Federico Santa María

Federico Santa María Carrera was a Chilean businessperson, philanthropist, known for founding Federico Santa María Technical University. Santa María was a member of the Santa María and Carrera family,

Early life

Federico Santa María Carrera was born on 15 August 1845 in Valparaíso, to Juan Antonio Santa María Artigas and of Magdalena Carrera Aguirre. Through his mother Santa María was of Basque descent, and was the great-grandson of Juan José Pedro Carrera, a soldier and hero of the Chilean Independence, and Chilean Independence campaigner.
Santa María was the sixth of nine siblings, and was the younger brother of, a lawyer and Radical Party politician.

Career

Santa María made his huge fortune in the sugar markets of Paris, where he arrived when he was very young. His importance in the sugar market was considerable: he became a major power in the French economy. During World War I he closed down all his businesses, declaring that he did not want to profit from war. He also supported the French Army, donating clothes and weapons for an entire regiment.
However, once the war ended, in 1922 he started to purchase important quantities of sugar in the stock market. As analysts later declared that sugar production would be at a deficit that year, this led to enormous profits for Santa Maria. For this success he was investigated by the French national assembly, but it was determined that he had acted within legal bounds.

Personal life

Federico Santa Maria was a very atypical millionaire for his time. Profoundly anti-clerical, he never got married yet lived together for decades with the French woman Anna Guillaud.
Because he had no descendants, he gave his entire fortune to his hometown Valparaíso for the founding of a technical and engineering school. The result of his legacy was the Federico Santa María Technical University.
He was a distant relative of famous Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau.