Эухенио Гарса Сада: Мексикалық филантроп және өнеркәсіпші

Mexican philanthropist and industrialist

Eugenio Garza Sada (January 11, 1892 – September 17, 1973) was an industrialist in the city of Monterrey, Mexico best known for founding the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) school system in the country. Garza was born into a business family, with his father founding the Cuauhtémoc Brewery in Monterrey in 1890. After Garza graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he began to work at the brewery, working his way up in the company to eventually take over as director after his father died. Garza and his brother Roberto grew the company into a conglomerate and instituted various innovations including benefits and social services for employees. Garza's inspiration for founding ITESM came from his experience at MIT, as well as the desire to decrease Mexico's dependence on foreign expert help. He remained the head of ITESM's board until his death in 1973, as a result of a failed kidnapping attempt.

Eugenio Garza Sada was born on January 11, 1892, in Monterrey, Mexico. He was the fourth of children of Isaac Garza Garza and Consuelo Sada Muguerza de Sada. Both parents came from highly influential business families. His paternal grandfather, Juan de la Garza Martinez, was mayor of Monterrey in the mid 19th century, building the Templo del Roble church in 1853. His father founded the Cuauhtémoc Brewery along with José Calderón Muguerza in 1890 with the help of foreign capital. His birth and early upbringing coincided with the industrialization that was taking place under the Porfirio Díaz regime at the end of the 19th century and very early 20th. Garza's upbringing was religious and conservative, initially attending Marist schools. It also revolved around the brewery business, visiting his father at the plant often. He attended primary school at the Colegio de San Juan in Saltillo, Coahuila, two hours away from the family home. He attended middle school in Monterrey at the Colegio Hidalgo. In 1909, Monterrey experience severe flooding. The Garza house, which survived, became a shelter for the homeless and the company helped with reconstruction efforts. This disaster was followed shortly after by the Mexican Revolution, which required the family to leave Mexico in 1913 and seek asylum in the United States, living in Brownsville and St. Louis. He continued high school and graduated from Western Military Academy, a military academy in Alton, Illinois This experience left an impression that would later lead to the formation of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. In 1921, he married Consuelo Lagüera Zambrano. The couple had eight children. Although he was a millionaire, he rode in an antique car, had only three suits in his closet, all the same cut and color and generally wore cheaper shoes. He reinvested his money rather than spend it on lavish things. His hobbies were gardening and music. The brothers also worked to diversify the company getting into the production of raw materials and packaging, changing the name to Grupo Monterrey. In World War II, the United States began to ration tin, a material that the company imported. In response, Grupo Monterrey began a new company called Hojalata y Lámina, S. A. to produce its own cans and bottles. After his father died, the family decided that Eugenio should take over directorship. Along with technological and administrative innovations, Garza also implemented social ones. One of his innovations in business was to form an internal communications system, which at the time was a novelty. This included a publication called "El abanderado" and later "Trabajo y ahorro" which began in 1918 and published twice a month. He also wrote regular bulletins for workers at the factories he managed. He also developed the "Ideario Cuauhtémoc, a set of seventeen principles set for both the company and its employees, a predecessor to codes of ethics. Two years after starting work with the company, the two brothers began the Sociedad Cuauhtémoc y Famosa, open to workers and managers of the enterprise. The organization offered health care services, courses to employees, scholarships for their children and a recreational center. As part of the Sociedad Cuauhtémoc y Famosa, he established the radio station XET as well as Televisión Independiente de México. The latter eventually merged with another television company to form Televisa after Garza's death. However, these activities were criticized as a kind of "white syndicate" (sindicato blanco) aimed at controlling workers and containing unionism. In business he believed that authority should be centralized and clearly defined. Garza maintained the Monterrey tradition of an industrial class in which families maintained control of industry by handing down key roles through the generations. He felt that honest work brought men to liberty and culture. For him it gave humans dignity. He felt that one of his social obligations as a businessman was to create as many jobs as possible. He is quoted as saying "I do not distribute riches: I distribute jobs. In this way, you will raise the standard of living of the people." His belief in keeping government out of business also put him at odds with Mexican president Luis Echeverría, but it was not public. Politically motivated businessmen allied with Echeverría were interested in a control over the Cadena García Valseca, which published thirty seven local newspapers in Mexico. Garza was against this move on economic and political grounds and offered the publishing group financing to stay solvent and resist takeovers by those sympathetic to the government. However, Garza died before the transaction took place.

Garza is considered to be one of Mexico's second generation of industrialists, mostly distinguished from their Porfirian era predecessors by having a formal education. Garza founded the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education with the aim of forming highly qualified administrators and technical workers in Mexico, decreasing Mexican businesses' dependency of foreign experts. His first project in this area was the creation of the Escuela Politécnica Cuauhtémoc, which provided elementary and high school education along with technical skills. The need for a university level institution seemed more urgent with the outbreak of World War II among countries that normally provided expertise in Mexico. Another issue was that the state and federal authorities refounded the University of Nuevo León, but there were political conflicts in its operation, which Garza wanted to avoid. He called the school "his ninth child." From that point on, he dedicated a significant amount of his time to the institution, being president of the board from 1943 until his death. At the end of the 20th century, the school system had more than 80,000 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Garza's funeral was attended by over 200,000 people, including the then President Luis Echeverría. He was buried at the Panteón del Carmen in Monterrey.

The Eugenio Garza Sada Award was created in the memory of Garza to preserve his values and ideas. This award is financed by FEMSA, the holding company of the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery, and by the Monterrey Institute of Technology.