Juan B. Lacson

Juan Bautista Jocson Lacson, commonly known as John B. Lacson, was a Filipino sea captain who founded the John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University in Iloilo City, the first private maritime education and training institution in the Philippines.

Biography

Capt. Lacson was born on May 9, 1898, in Silay, Negros Occidental. He studied high school at Silliman University in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental and took an Associate in Applied Science in Nautical Science at the Philippine Nautical School in Manila.
During World War II, Capt. Lacson became Lieutenant Junior Grade in San Francisco. He later became a U.S. citizen and adopted the name John B. Lacson. He lived in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
After the war ended, he went home to the Philippines and founded the first maritime school in the Visayas, Iloilo Maritime Academy in 1948. He also served as a harbor pilot in Iloilo City until his death on June 15, 1992.