Eduardo Moore

Eduardo Pompeyo Moore Montero (Berlin, 30 August 1895 – Santiago, November 1977) was a Chilean teacher, lawyer, businessman, and liberal politician.

He served multiple terms as Deputy and Senator, and was Minister of Public Education under President Jorge Alessandri between 1960 and 1961.

He was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Eduardo Moore Bravo, physician and long-time director of the National Museum of Natural History of Chile (1910–1927), and Elvira Montero Riveros.

He studied at the German Lyceum and the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera in Santiago, then entered the University of Chile, graduating as a teacher of history and geography from its Pedagogical Institute. He also obtained a law degree from the same university, presenting the thesis «Los alimentos debidos por ley» (“Maintenance Obligations by Law”) and was sworn in before the Supreme Court on 4 June 1920.

He later taught at the San Bernardo High School for Boys and at the Chilean Army Military Academy, while also pursuing agricultural business activities. He married Isabel Rodríguez Fornés, with whom he had six children.

Moore joined the Liberal Party, serving as vice president and later as its president in 1938. Appointed by President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo as Mayor of Pumanque (1931), he held office until May 1931.

He was first elected Deputy for San Fernando and Santa Cruz (1933–1941), then for Valparaíso and Quillota (1941–1945), and subsequently for Melipilla, San Antonio, San Bernardo and Maipo (1945–1949). In 1953 he was elected Senator for O’Higgins and Colchagua (1953–1961).

During his legislative career he served on numerous committees, including Public Education, Agriculture and Colonization, Constitution and Justice, Labor and Social Security, Foreign Relations, and Finance.

He sponsored or co-sponsored several important laws, such as Law No. 5 376 (1934) re-establishing the provinces of Colchagua and O’Higgins, and Law No. 7 878 (1944) granting tax exemption to the Diego Echeverría Castro orphanage in Quillota.

As Minister of Public Education (1960–1961), he promoted the educational reform known as the Plan Arica, later applied nationwide.

He served as counselor of the Caja de Crédito Agrario, was a member of the Sociedad Nacional de Agricultura (SNA), president of the Law Center at the University of Chile, secretary of the Santiago Liberal Center, and member of the Club de La Unión. He was a Freemason, member of the Grand Lodge of Chile, and an active Rotarian, presiding over the Rotary Club of Santiago.

He authored a biography of Juan Martínez de Rozas and several literary works, including «Vidas Frente al Mar», «Los Diez», «Juventud», and «El Universitario».

He died in Santiago in November 1977. A rural school in Paredones, in the O’Higgins Region, bears his name in tribute.

• Biografías de Chilenos: Miembros de los Poderes Ejecutivo, Legislativo y Judicial (1876–1973), Armando de Ramón et al., Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile, Tomo III, 2003.
• Anales de la República, Luis Valencia Aravia, Editorial Andrés Bello, 1986.
• Historia Política de Chile y su Evolución Electoral desde 1810 a 1992, Germán Urzúa Valenzuela, Editorial Jurídica de Chile, 1992.

• BCN Profile
• Speech on the 150th anniversary of the Instituto Nacional (PDF)