Pablo Pérez Zañartu (30 April 1915 – 28 November 1987) was a Chilean professor, engineer, and businessman. He served as a Minister of State under President Jorge Alessandri.
Early life Pérez was the son of Osvaldo Pérez Valdés and Marta Luisa Zañartu Íñiguez.Biografías de chilenos: miembros de los poderes Ejecutivo, Legislativo y Judicial (1876–1973), Armando de Ramón et al., Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, 2003, Vol. III, p. 241.http://www.genealog.cl/Chile/C/Cruz/ Familias Cruz Costa, Pérez Cruz He studied at the San Ignacio School in Santiago and later at the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Chile, where he qualified as a teacher in 1937. Two years later, at the same university, he obtained the degree of civil engineer.
Marriage and children He married Mariana de Jesús Cruz Costa (Talca, 1925 – Santiago, 2014), with whom he had eleven children: Mariana, Bernardita, María Loreto, Ana María, Pablo, Carmen Gloria, Andrés, Ximena, Cristián, Matías, and José Tomás. They had a total of 51 grandchildren.El Mercurio (Santiago), 30 April 2015.
Private and public life In 1940, Pérez traveled to the United States, where he worked as an engineer for companies in New York (W. R. Grace & Co.) and later in Pennsylvania (Morgan Smith). He subsequently joined the state-owned Corporation for the Promotion of Production (Corfo), where he entered as deputy head of the Electrical Engineering Division.
In 1958, he held the portfolio of Public Works in the first cabinet of President Jorge Alessandri.La Vanguardia (Barcelona), 28 October 1958, p. 15.
Later, at Endesa, a subsidiary of Corfo, he rose to become head of the Export Department and later deputy export manager.Capital (Santiago), 27 July 2007.
He was also an academic at the School of Arts and Crafts and at the University of Chile.
During the 1970s, he left the private sector and moved to Bolivia to work in the national electric power company.
In his later years, he managed the wealth he had accumulated through various business ventures, most notably his participation in the Chilean energy distribution company Compañía General de Electricidad (CGE). He personally came to hold a 2.7% stake in the company, while his family currently controls close to 10%, forming part of the controlling shareholders’ agreement.Compañía General de Electricidad, archived website.
Death Pérez died in Santiago at the age of 72. He is regarded as the patriarch of what is now known as the Pérez Cruz group, with investments ranging from real estate and events to livestock and wine production,WineToursChile.com as well as gas distribution through .
His children later recalled him in the following terms:
References
External links Interview with Andrés Pérez Cruz in Capital magazine Article on the Pérez Cruz family businesses at PortalInmobiliario