Enrique Campos del Toro
Born(1898-06-15)15 June 1898
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Died28 February 1980(1980-02-28) (aged 81)[1]
San Juan, Puerto Rico
NationalityPuerto Rican
Known forFounder, FirstBank, Attorney General of Puerto Rico
SpouseMargarita Ledesma de Campos del Toro[2][3]
ChildrenSonia, Miriam, Margarita[4]

Enrique Campos del Toro (15 June 1898 – 28 February 1980) was a Puerto Rican law professor, banker, and attorney general of Puerto Rico.

Early years

Campos del Toro was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on 15 June 1898. He received his law degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law in 1923. Upon his graduation, he became a professor at said university from 1923 to 1924.

Career

In 1936, Campos del Toro was appointed assistant to the Puerto Rico attorney general. In 1943 he was appointed president of the Puerto Rico Industrial Commission. In 1944, at a time when the Governor of Puerto Rico was still an appointee of the President of the United States, Campos del Toro was appointed Coordinator of Insular Affairs by the colonial Governor of Puerto Rico.[5]

In April 1944, Campos del Toro became president of the Insular Labor Relations Board (ILRB). In 1945 the President of the United States appointed him Attorney General of Puerto Rico, a position he held for a year.[6] Together with Teodoro Moscoso, Jorge Bird, Samuel Schweitzer, Rafael Carrion Jr., Guillermo Rodriguez Benitez, Luis Valiente and Alfonso Valdes, Campos del Toro is credited with having turned around the impoverished Puerto Rican economy of the first half of the 20th century and into an industrial/financial powerhouse with the highest standard of living in the Caribbean and Latin America.[7]

In 1948, Campos del Toro founded El Diario de Puerto Rico (The Puerto Rico Daily), and in 1949 he founded the Puerto Rico Loan and Savings Association. He was president of First Federal Savings (today Firstbank) and a member of its governing board.[8]

In the 1960s Campos del Toro wrote two books, The housing problem of Latin America and its possible solution, published in 1961, and Divagaciones de un hombre confundido (Madrid: Editorial Stanley: Unwin Books. Ediciones Iberoamericanas), published in 1967. In 1961 he also wrote Reflexiones minimas: artículos y conferencias (Mexico: Editorial Orion).

In June 1976, Campos del Toro was honored as the founder of Puerto Rico's first savings and loan association.[9]

He died on 28 February 1980 of prostate cancer. He was buried at the Puerto Rico Memorial Cemetery in Carolina, Puerto Rico.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Certificado de Defunción, Enrique Campos del Toro". Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Department of Health, Demographic Registry Division (in Spanish). 1980-02-29. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
  2. ↑ Doctor Guillermo Arbona dirigiéndose a los asistentes a reunión de la Asociación General Antituberculosa de Puerto Rico. Roberto Mora. El Mundo. 4 October 1960.
  3. ↑ Campos-Ledesma v. Compania de Fomento Industrial de Puerto Rico. Tribunal de Circuito de Apelacions. CC-1999-957. Rama Judicial de Puerto Rico. 9 January 2001.
  4. ↑ Campos-Ledesma v. Compania de Fomento Industrial de Puerto Rico. Tribunal de Circuito de Apelacions. CC-1999-957. Rama Judicial de Puerto Rico. 9 January 2001.
  5. ↑ Campos de Toro llevara A Washington evidencia del supuesto "racket".El Mundo 11 October 1938. p.1
  6. ↑ Dionicio Nodín Valdés. Organized Agriculture and the Labor Movement before the UFW: Puerto Rico, Hawaii, California. University of Texas Press. 2011. pp.73, 77.
  7. ↑ Fridman, Harry L. Giants in island's development who have gone down in history. Caribbean Business. 23 February 1995. Vol. 23. Issue 8. p.82.
  8. ↑ Carmona, Jose L. FirstBank celebrates its 60th anniversary. Caribbean Business. 30 October 2008. Vol. 36. Issue 43, p.12
  9. ↑ Dreyer, Martha. This week in Caribbean Business history. Caribbean Business. 5 July 2007, Vol. 35 Issue 26, p16.
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