Modesto Collados
Modesto Collados | |
|---|---|
Modesto Collados in 1984. | |
| Minister of Economy, Development and Reconstruction | |
| In office 2 April 1984 – 29 July 1985 | |
| President | Augusto Pinochet |
| Preceded by | Andrés Passicot |
| Succeeded by | Juan Carlos Délano |
| Minister of Housing and Urbanism | |
| In office 10 August 1983 – 2 April 1984 | |
| President | Augusto Pinochet |
| Preceded by | Roberto Guillard |
| Succeeded by | Miguel Ángel Poduje |
| In office 16 December 1965 – 10 August 1966 | |
| President | Eduardo Frei Montalva |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Juan Hamilton |
| Minister of Public Works | |
| In office 3 November 1964 – 16 December 1965 | |
| President | Eduardo Frei Montalva |
| Preceded by | Ernesto Pinto Lagarrigue |
| Succeeded by | Edmundo Pérez Zujovic |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 13, 1916 |
| Died | May 20, 2012 (aged 95) |
| Party | Independent, close to the right |
| Spouse | Nelly Baines Oehlmann |
| Children | 6 |
| Parent(s) | Modesto Collados Elvira Núñez |
| Alma mater | University of Chile |
| Occupation | Civil engineer, academic, writer, politician |
Modesto Collados Núñez (13 December 1916 – 20 May 2012) was a Chilean civil engineer, academic, trade association leader, writer and politician.
He served as cabinet minister during the government of president Eduardo Frei Montalva, and later under the military dictatorship of general Augusto Pinochet.[1]
Family and education
He was born in Argentina on 13 December 1916, the son of Modesto Collados and Elvira Núñez. He moved to Chile at the age of four.[2]
He completed his primary studies at the Manuel Tomás Albornoz School in Constitución, and secondary studies at the Liceo de Hombres in Talca. He later studied at the University of Chile, graduating as a civil engineer in 1941 with the thesis División aurea. During his university years he stood out as a student leader.[2] He became a naturalized Chilean in 1940.[2]
He married Nelly Baines Oehlmann, of German descent, with whom he had six children: Alberto, Lucía, Cecilia, Eugenio, Lorenzo, and Ana Teresa.[2]
Professional career
His first professional position was as head of the Engineering Section of the Caja de la Habitación, later the Corporación de la Vivienda (CORVI). There he worked closely with Abraham Alcaíno Fernández, who had been minister of Public Works during the presidency of Juan Antonio Ríos, and who was influential in his early career.[3]
After six years in the public sector he moved to the private sector, forming a company that built more than a million square meters, mainly in housing.[3][4] He also began an academic career at his alma mater.[2]
Between 1962 and 1964, he was director and vice president of the Chilean Chamber of Construction (CChC), as well as provincial councilor of the Colegio de Ingenieros de Chile.[2] In 1962 he attended the construction congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and in 1966 the Savings and Loans congress in Caracas, Venezuela, and a housing congress in Santiago.[3] He later served as national president of the CChC in 1976–1978 and 1982–1983, when the organization rose as one of the country’s most powerful trade associations.[2]
He also authored numerous publications covering literature, politics, philosophy, engineering, and economics.[2]
Political career
Although formally an independent, on 3 November 1964 he was appointed by president Eduardo Frei Montalva as Minister of Public Works.[2][3][4] Frei also tasked him with creating the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism, to tackle the country’s housing deficit. The ministry was formally established by Law No. 16,391 in December 1965, and Collados became its first head on 16 December 1965.[4][2]
On 10 August 1983, during the financial crisis, general Augusto Pinochet appointed him Minister of Housing and Urbanism, a position he held until 2 April 1984, when he moved to the Ministry of Economy, Development and Reconstruction. He left the latter office on 29 July 1985.[2] During this period he gave lectures with philosophical overtones in which he criticized democracy, describing universal suffrage as “a blank check.”[5]
In the late 1980s he chaired the High Advisory Council for the presidential candidacy of Hernán Büchi.
He received the National Prize of the Colegio de Ingenieros de Chile (1996), the Infrastructure Prize (2005), and gold medals from the Instituto de Ingenieros de Chile, the CChC, and the Inter-American Construction Federation. He was also awarded the Rector’s Medal of the Universidad Arturo Prat.[4]
In the private sector he was a board member of several companies, notably the Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI), where he served from 1989 until 2007, resigning due to advanced age.[6][7]
He died on 20 May 2012 at the age of 95.[8]
Written works
- Vigencia y dolencia de la cultura occidental (1986).[2]
- Reflexiones sobre Rusia (1992).[2]
- Popper y Hayek en su tinta (1996).[2]
References
- ^ Luis Valencia Avaria (1986). Anales de la República: registros de los ciudadanos que han integrado los Poderes Ejecutivo y Legislativo (2nd ed.). Santiago, Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Armando de Ramón (1999). Biografías de chilenos: miembros de los poderes Ejecutivo, Legislativo y Judicial (1876–1973). Vol 1. Santiago: Ediciones Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. p. 279.
- ^ a b c d El Mercurio (Santiago), 13 October 1992, p. B3.
- ^ a b c d "En qué está Modesto Collados, empresario y cuatro veces ministro". El Mercurio. Santiago. 1 April 2006. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ^ Romero, Mario (30 June 1984). "Empresarios: La comezón de la democracia" (PDF). Cauce. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
- ^ "BCI, Gobierno Corporativo y Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" (PDF). Banco de Crédito e Inversiones. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ^ La Segunda (Santiago), 24 April 2007, p. 26.
- ^ "Fallece ex presidente de la CChC, Modesto Collados". Diario Financiero. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2022.