Raúl Sáez Sáez (16 February 1913 – 24 November 1992) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an civil engineer. He served as Minister of Finance in Chile in 1968, and as Minister of Economic Coordination under the military junta from 1974 to 1975.

Early life and education

Sáez was born in 1913 to a Chilean military officer who married his cousin. His first school years were spent in the Colegio Alemán (German School) of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

. In 1925, his father was sent to France on a military mission and the whole family traveled there. In Paris, Saez enrolled in one of the traditional French Lycees, where he studied Mathematics and Philosophy. Back in Chile in 1931, he enrolled in the School of Engineering at

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

in Santiago, where he soon reached the top of his class and eventually became the best student of the university.

Professional life

His first project after graduation was the Electrification Plan for Chile, which would eventually lead to the founding of

Endesa Endesa, S.A. (, originally an initialism for ''Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A''.) is a Spanish multinational electric utility company, the largest in the country. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, ...

(Chile's national electricity company). Saez actually joined Endesa in 1940 as Chief Engineer for

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

and eventually rose to the position of CEO of the company in 1961. Without leaving his job in Endesa, Saez joined Compañía de Acero del Pacífico (CAP), Chile's largest steel manufacturing company, between 1944 and 1947 and played important roles in

CORFO The Production Development Corporation (CORFO, from es, Corporación de Fomento de la Producción de Chile) is a Chilean governmental organization that was founded in 1939 by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda to promote economic growth in Chile. ...

(Chile's corporation for industrial development), IANSA (Chile's national sugar company) and

ENTEL The ''Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones'' (National Telecommunications Enterprise, or ENTel) was an Argentine state owned company which had the monopoly on public telecommunications in the country until its privatization in 1990. Overview It ...

(Chile's telecommunications company), among others. He has been called "Chile's greatest maker of works of progress in the second half of the 20th century". He is also well-remembered for leading the effort to avert the overflowing of

Riñihue Lake The Riñihue Lake ( es, Lago Riñihue ) is a lake of glacial origin in eastern Valdivia Province, southern Chile. It is surrounded by several mountains. The eastern side receives the waters of the Panguipulli Lake by the Enco River, its main con ...

in the aftermath of the devastating

Great Chilean earthquake The 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami ( es, link=no, Terremoto de Valdivia) or the Great Chilean earthquake (''Gran terremoto de Chile'') on 22 May 1960 was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Various studies have placed it at 9.4– ...

of 22 May 1960 (see

Riñihuazo The Riñihuazo is the name given to the landslide damming of Riñihue Lake on 22 May 1960, after a landslide caused by the Great Chilean earthquake blocked its outflow. According to the chronicler Mariño de Lobera a similar event occurred afte ...

Death and honors

Raúl Sáez died on 24 November 1992, a week after he was awarded the National Prize for Engineering and only one day after the Chilean government awarded him the National Prize for Applied Sciences and Technologies.

References

External links

Raúl Sáez at Ingenieros.cl (in Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saez, Raul 1913 births 1992 deaths Chilean Ministers of Finance People from Constitución, Chile University of Chile alumni People from Santiago 20th-century Chilean engineers