Manuel Olivencia Ruiz (25 July 1929 – 1 January 2018) was a Spanish lawyer with a career as a professor, economist, and diplomat. He worked at the University of Seville and organized Seville Expo '92.

Early life

Olivencia was born in Ronda,

Province of Málaga The province of Málaga ( es, Provincia de Málaga ) is located in Andalusia, Spain. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and by the provinces of Cádiz to the west, Seville to the northwest, Córdoba to the north, and Granada to ...

, on 25 July 1929 and grew up in

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

. Olivencia's father was also a lawyer. His brother was

Francisco Olivencia Francisco Olivencia Ruiz (12 February 1934 – 4 January 2019) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Early life Francisco Olivencia was born in Ceuta and studied law at the Complutense University of Madrid. His brother was Manuel Olivencia. Ol ...

. Olivencia graduated cum laude from the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

in 1953.

Career

Olivencia decided from a young age to practice law, though he prioritized teaching. He became an associate professor of commercial law at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

. In 1960 he became a professor of commercial law at the University of Seville; one of his students was

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a Spanish lawyer, professor, and politician, who was the Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997, and the 3rd Prime Minister of Spain since the ...

. There, he was dean of the school of law from 1968 to 1971 and dean of the school of economics from 1971 to 1975. He was Undersecretary of Education and Science during the first Transition government, advisor to the

Bank of Spain The Bank of Spain ( es, link=no, Banco de España) is the central bank of Spain. Established in Madrid in 1782 by Charles III of Spain, Charles III, today the bank is a member of the European System of Central Banks and is also Spain's national ...

, and a member of the board of

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service know ...

. He was Commissioner General of the 1992 Universal Exposition of Seville (Expo '92) from 1984 to 1991. Olivencia said that a major problem in putting on the event was the amount of time to prepare. On 19 April 1990 terrorist group

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

sent him a letter bomb, but exploded before in the hands of an Expo's civil servant. He received the Creu de Sant Jordi Award for his work on Expo '92 and joined the

Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

in 2005.

Juan Ignacio Zoido Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez (born 21 January 1957) is a Spanish former judge and politician of the People's Party, who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament since 2019. In Parliament, he has since been serving on the Committee o ...

awarded Olivencia with a Plaza de España "for a life dedicated to public service" in December 2017. In 1998, he chaired the commission that drafted the corporate governance code for voluntary adaptation by listed companies, known as Olivencia Code, being the first of these characteristics in Spain. Olivencia served as a director of Bolsas and Mercados Españoles from June 5, 2006 until his death and also served as its lead independent director. Olivencia was honored in 2012 with the title as the "Adoptive Son" of Seville for his contributions to Expo '92, alongside Emilio Cassinello, as they served as major contributors to Seville's cultural regions. In his career, Olivencia published more than 200 titles of the various specialties of

mercantile law ''Lex mercatoria'' (from the Latin language, Latin for "merchant law"), often referred to as "the Law Merchant" in English, is the body of commercial law used by merchants throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period. It evolved simi ...

, most of them collected in legal studies, five volumes which published for El Monte Foundation in Seville.

Death

Olivencia died on 1 January 2018 at age 88 in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

from respiratory failure after a suffering a fall in December 2017. Olivencia had four children, one of whom predeceased him in 2014.

Honors

* Great Crosses of the

Order of Alfonso X the Wise The Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise ( es, Orden Civil de Alfonso X el Sabio) is a Spanish civil order established in 1939, recognising activities in the fields of education, science, culture, higher education and research. The order was create ...

, of the Military Merit, of

St. Raymond of Peñafort Raymond of Penyafort ( ca, Sant Ramon de Penyafort, ; es, San Raimundo de Peñafort; 1175 – 6 January 1275) was a Catalonia, Catalan Dominican friar in the 13th century, who compiled the Decretals of Gregory IX, a collection of Canon la ...

and of

Isabella the Catholic Isabella I ( es, Isabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''la Católica''), was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504, as well as Queen consort of Aragon from 1479 until 1504 by ...

Golden Cross of Merit The Cross of Merit () is a Polish civil state decoration established on 23 June 1923, to recognize services to the state. History At the time of its establishment in 1923, the Cross of Merit was the highest civilian award in Poland. It was aw ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

* Creu de Sant Jordi Award of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

* Favorite Son of Ronda * Adoptive Son of

* Gold Medal of the City of

References

External links

Manuel Olivencia Ruiz: Executive Profile & Biography
at Bloomberg.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Olivencia Ruiz, Manuel 1929 births 2018 deaths University of Seville faculty University of Bologna alumni Complutense University of Madrid faculty People from Ronda 20th-century Spanish lawyers