José Ángel Sánchez Asiaín, 1st Marquess of Asiaín, (

Baracaldo Barakaldo ( es, Baracaldo; eu, Barakaldo ) is a municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country. Located on the Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is part of Greater Bilbao, has a population at 100,881. Barakaldo ha ...

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, 1 March 1929 –

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, 31 December 2016) was a Spanish

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

university professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

Early life

Sánchez Asiaín received a master's degree in law at the University of Deusto,

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

(in the Spanish

Basque country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

) and was awarded a

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in Economy by the Central University of Madrid in 1958. He began his professional life at the Bank of Bilbao and became a professor at the University of Valladolid, there obtaining the chair of Public Finance and Tax Law. He was attached as the General Technical Secretary to the Spanish Ministry of Industry. In 1968, he became chair of the University of Bilbao, at that time leaving the work at the Ministry and relaunching his activity at the Bank of Bilbao, where he was the Director of Studies, nominated as Director General of the bank, and he served as chairman until it merged with the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA).

Professional career

In 1990 Sánchez Asiaín became President of Foundation BBV, a predecessor of Foundation BBVA (a not-for-profit social initiative). He served as a board director of different companies, notably

Altos Hornos de Vizcaya Altos Hornos de Vizcaya, S.A. was a Spanish metallurgy manufacturing company. It was the largest company in Spain for much of the 20th century, employing 40,000 workers at its height. The business began in 1902 in Bilbao with the merger of three ...

, Iberduero, Banco de Crédito Industrial, and

United International Bank United International Bank () was an overseas Chinese bank in the United States, formerly headquartered in New York City. The bank established itself as a locally based community bank serving Chinese Americans and Asian Americans in the New York ...

. After his retirement as a banker, he remained to perform other activities. Sánchez Asiaín served as President of the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

, from 1990 to 1993, and the COTEC Foundation, whose purpose is to stimulate innovation in the Spanish industry. Although due to retirement not performing anymore the profession as a banker, he remained Honorary President of BBVA Foundation. He was also an advisor to several Spanish and foreign organizations, notably the Vatican Institute for Works of Religion, the Social Council of Technical University of Madrid, the Spanish Foundation against Drug Addiction and the Colegio Libre de Eméritos Universitarios de Madrid (a foundation to support academics in retirement). He held an honorary doctorates from the University of the Basque Country and the

Miguel Hernández University of Elche The Miguel Hernández University (''UMH'', es, Universidad Miguel Hernández, ca-valencia, Universitat Miguel Hernández, lat, Universitas Miguel Hernández illicitana, IPA), is a Spanish Public University offering education, research ...

in Valencia. He was elected to ''medalla nº 6'' of the

Real Academia de la Historia The Real Academia de la Historia (RAH, 'Royal Academy of History') is a Spanish institution in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the diff ...

on 20 October 1989, he took up his seat on 8 April 1992. He was an academic of the

European Academy of Sciences and Arts The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 37 Nobel Prize laure ...

and the Spanish Royal Academy of Policy regarding science and morality, and honorary member of the

Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acad ...

Accolades

He held, among other awards, the Grand Cross of the Spanish Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise, and the Grand Cross of the Portuguese

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of ...

(GCIH). He was Grand Officer of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

and Commander Grand Cross of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star (KmstkNO). On 8 April 2010, Asiaín was raised into the

Spanish nobility Spanish nobles are persons who possess the legal status of hereditary nobility according to the laws and traditions of the Spanish monarchy and historically also those who held personal nobility as bestowed by one of the three highest orders of ...

King Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (;, * ca, Joan Carles I, * gl, Xoán Carlos I, Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 Novem ...

with the hereditary title of ''Marqués de Asiaín'' (English: Marquess of Asiaín).Real Decreto 432/2010
- Website BOE He was further distinguished with the "Lan Onari" of the (Spanish) Basque Government and was awarded the Juan Lladó prize for support to culture and cultural research.

References (in Spanish)

External links (in Spanish)

Ficha biográficaBiografía en la Fundación COTEXRecopilación de trabajos libros, artículos y colaboraciones de José Ángel Sánchez Asiaín
en

Dialnet The University of La Rioja (UR) is a public institution of higher education based in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain. Inaugurated during 1992-1993 from various existing schools and colleges, it currently teaches Grades 19 adapted to the European Higher ...

Obras de Sánchez Asiaín
en la Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez Asiain, Jose Angel 1929 births 2016 deaths Spanish economists Marquesses of Spain Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Members of the Real Academia de la Historia People from Barakaldo Businesspeople from the Basque Country (autonomous community) University of the Basque Country alumni Complutense University of Madrid alumni Spanish bankers Spanish business executives University of Valladolid faculty Basque economists