Julio Mario Santo Domingo Pumarejo (October 16, 1923 – October 7, 2011) was a

Colombian-American Colombian Americans ( es, Colomboestadounidenses), are Americans who trace their ancestry to Colombia. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of full or partial Colombian descent or to someone who has immigrated to the United St ...

billionaire businessman, diplomat and patriarch of the Santo Domingo family who lived in New York City. He controlled more than 100 companies in the diversified portfolio of the "Santo Domingo Group." He was listed by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine as one of the wealthiest men in the world, and the second-wealthiest in Colombia, with a fortune of US$8 billion. He was the founder of a philanthropic foundation, named to honor his father, that benefits Colombia's social development.

Early life

Julio Mario Santo Domingo was born on October 16, 1923 in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

, Panama, to Julio Mario Santo Domingo and Beatriz Pumarejo de Vengoechea, the youngest of their four children; his older siblings were Beatriz Alicia, Cecilia, and Luis Felipe. His father was a banker, described as austere and disciplined, who made a fortune buying companies weakened during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

; his mother, from a rich and influential family, was

first cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

Alfonso López Pumarejo Alfonso López Pumarejo (31 January 1886 – 20 November 1959) was a Colombian political figure, who twice served as President of Colombia, as a member of the Colombian Liberal Party. He served as President of Colombia for the first time between ...

who was twice

President of Colombia The president of Colombia ( es, Presidente de Colombia), officially known as the president of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Presidente de la República de Colombia) or president of the nation ( es, Presidente de la Nacion) is the head of stat ...

. He grew up in

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...

and later attended the exclusive

Gimnasio Moderno The Gimnasio Moderno is a private all-male Elite-traditional and liberal, primary and secondary school located in Bogotá, Colombia. It was founded in 1914 by various prestigious Colombians following the leading initiative of Don Agustín Ni ...

in Bogotá, D.C., ultimately culminating his secondary studies at the

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

; he later attended

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

before transferring to

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, but did not finish his degree.

Ambassadorship

On May 26, 1980, President

Julio César Turbay Ayala Julio César Turbay Ayala (18 June 1916 – 13 September 2005) was a Colombian lawyer and politician who served as the 25th President of Colombia from 1978 to 1982. He also held the positions of Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the United St ...

appointed Santo Domingo to be the first

Ambassador of Colombia to China An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

. He presented his

Letters of Credence A letter of credence (french: Lettre de créance) is a formal diplomatic letter that designates a diplomat as ambassador to another sovereign state. Commonly known as diplomatic credentials, the letter is addressed from one head of state to anot ...

Ulanhu Ulanhu or Ulanfu ( 23 December 1907 – 8 December 1988), born Yun Ze (), was the founding Chairman of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, serving from 1947 to 1966. An ethnic Tumed Mongol, he took the nom de guerre Ulanhu () and had n ...

, Vice Chairman of the

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is the highest organ of state po ...

, in Beijing on February 17, 1981.

Santo Domingo Group

The Group has a majority stake in Bavaria Brewery and Valores Bavaria (a holding company for his non-beer interests). In 2005, Bavaria Brewery merged with South African company

SABMiller SABMiller plc was a South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Prior to that date, it was the world's ...

. In this merging, the group acquired 15.1% of SAB Miller, becoming the second-largest shareholder of the second-largest beer company in the world (behind

Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters ...

Portfolio

Caracol TV Caracol is a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District, of Belize. It is situated approximately south of Xunantunich, and the town of San Ignacio, and from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau ...

(Colombian television channel) ** Caracol TV International **

Caracol Radio Caracol Radio (''Cadena Radial Colombiana'', "Colombian Radio Network") is one of the main radio networks in Colombia. Founded in Medellín in 1948 when ''La Voz de Antioquia'' station acquired the 50% of ''Emisoras Nuevo Mundo'', based in Bogotá ...

(sold to PRISA in 2001) * ''

Cromos ''Cromos'' is a Colombian varieties and photojournalism magazine, known for widely covering the Miss Colombia pageant on editions called ''Mini Cromos''. The magazine was founded in 1916 by Miguel Santiago Valencia and Abelardo Arboleda, both from ...

'' (magazine) * ''

El Espectador ''El Espectador'' (meaning "The Spectator") is a newspaper with national circulation within Colombia, founded by Fidel Cano Gutiérrez on 22 March 1887 in Medellín and published since 1915 in Bogotá. It changed from a daily to a weekly editio ...

'' (newspaper) *

(14% stake) *

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias del Continente Americano S.A.'', "Airways of the American Continent") is a Colombian airline. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it was initially registered under ...

(sold in 2004 to

Germán Efromovich Germán Efromovich (born 1950 in La Paz) is a Bolivian-born entrepreneur with multiple citizenship: Brazilian, Colombian, and Polish. He was born into a family of Polish Jews.

) *

Bluradio Blu Radio is a radio station in Bogotá, Colombia, owned by Caracol TV. In July 2012, Caracol TV leased HJMD (the frequency of Melodía FM Estéreo, an easy listening station) from Cadena Melodía, in order to create a news radio station. Te ...

(radio station)

Personal life

He first married to Edyala Braga Brandão do Monte, a Brazilian socialite, daughter of Brazilian ambassador in Paris and former wife of Brazilian President

Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...

' brother. Together they had one son, Julio Mario Santo Domingo Braga (1958–2009), but the marriage did not last long and they divorced shortly after. Julio Mario Jr. married Vera Rechulski, a Brazilian socialite and they had 2 children –

Tatiana Santo Domingo Tatiana Santo Domingo Rechulski (born 24 November 1983), also known as Tatiana Casiraghi, is an American-born Colombian-Monégasque socialite, heiress and fashion designer. She is the founder of Muzungu Sisters, a fashion company and the wife o ...

(born November 24, 1983) and Julio Mario Santo Domingo III (born May 2, 1985). He remarried on February 15, 1975 to Colombian socialite Beatrice Dávila Rocha, and together they had two sons, Alejandro Santo Domingo Dávila (b. 1977) who has continued on in the family business and Andrés Santo Domingo Dávila (b. 1978) the co-founder and president of

Kemado Records Kemado Records is an American record label based in New York City founded in 2002 by Andrés Santo Domingo and Tom Clapp. In 2006 the label released the '' Invaders'' compilation, which featured many of the label's bands alongside other hard roc ...

, who in 2008 married socialite

Lauren Davis Lauren Davis (born October 9, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. Known for her aggressive backhand, speed, and clay-court strength, she won her first title on the WTA Tour at the Auckland Open and reached a career-high singles ra ...

(then founder of the online fashion retailer

Moda Operandi Founded in 2010 by Lauren Santo Domingo and Áslaug Magnúsdóttir, Moda Operandi is an online luxury fashion retailer that allows customers to preorder looks directly from designers, immediately after their runway show. The concept, which was con ...

). Santo Domingo owned homes in New York City, in Paris, and Barú, a Colombian island near Cartagena.

References

External links

Forbes.com: Forbes: World's Richest People

Latin Business Chronicle: Latin America's Billionaires

The Death of Julio Mario Santo Domingo

Caracol Televisión special coverage on Julio Mario Santo Domingo

Julio Mario Santo Domingo P. (1923–2011)

Julio Mario Santo Domingo on images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santo Domingo Pumarejo, Julio Mario 1923 births 2011 deaths People from Panama City Julio Mario Colombian expatriates in Panama Colombian emigrants to the United States University of Virginia alumni Colombian billionaires 20th-century Colombian businesspeople Colombian chief executives Colombian philanthropists Businesspeople in brewing Ambassadors of Colombia to China 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century businesspeople 20th-century philanthropists