Carles Vilarrubí, businessman, gastronome and Barcelona supporter, dies at age 71

BarcelonaCarlos Vilarrubí died early this morning in Barcelona at the age of 71. Born in Barcelona, ​​Vilarrubí was involved in the most important institutions in the country and in recent years was particularly linked to gastronomy, having served as president of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition since 2016, where he was considered a man of consensus. Throughout his professional career, he worked in business and banking, and was a close associate of Jordi Pujol and a key figure in the early days of Convergència i Unió. Once in the Generalitat (the Catalan government) with Jordi Pujol's rise to power in 1980, Vilarrubí was one of the driving forces behind Catalunya Ràdio, where he served as secretary general and deputy director, and years later, Rac1 and Rac105. He was also tasked with creating the Autonomous Gaming and Betting Entity (EAJA), the Generalitat's lottery, which never became the large company Pujol had envisioned, as it was thwarted by the central government. Even so, Vilarrubí was responsible for launching the first lottery. on-line of Europe, the 6/49.

Throughout his career, he held various positions in the world of finance, insurance, and sports. The financier Javier de la Rosa recruited him as CEO for a major project backed by the Generalitat: Grand Tibidabo / Port Aventura. At that time, the park was called Tibigardens. This was the period when both Pujol and his then Minister of Economy, Macià Alavedra, held up De la Rosa as an example of a successful businessman. Shortly after, Vilarrubí decided to distance himself from the project after detecting some suspicious activity. Ultimately, De la Rosa ended up in prison.

Later, he joined the board of directors of La Seda, where he worked alongside Artur Mas; And then, once the Majestic pact between the PP and CiU was sealed, he ended up sitting on the governing body of Telefónica, in the midst of the battle of television platforms between the Prisa group (The Country, TO BE) and The World by Pedro J. Ramírez, who was accompanied by the government of José María Aznar (PP).

Years later, he was recruited as vice president of Rothschild Bank—one of the most important banking dynasties in the world—, and was president of CVC Group, Oxer Sport, the insurance broker Willis S&C, and a member of the board of directors of Fira Barcelona, ​​among other positions.

A great Barcelona fan

The other institution to which Vilarrubí was closely linked is FC Barcelona. A huge Barça fan, Vilarrubí explained that he listened to matches on the radio with his grandfather and that he fell in love with Cruyff in the 1970s. During the 1990s, he received an offer to join Josep Lluís Núñez's board of directors, but he declined. Later, he did accept, joining Sandro Rosell's presidential campaign, which won the 2010 elections. He remained with the club during Josep Maria Bartomeu's presidency, eventually becoming the club's institutional vice president.

He resigned on October 1, 2017 to show their disagreement with the decision to play the league match against Las Palmas after the police repression during the day of the Catalan independence referendum. Vilarrubí argued that it would have been better to lose points than to go out and play, as the players argued and Bartomeu himself eventually accepted. A fervent supporter of the club's Catalan nationalist wing, he defended the initiative because to name the Barça presidential box after club president Josep Suñol i Garriga in 2015, executed by Francoist troops during the civil war.

The son of an executive at the German multinational AEG, Vilarrubí studied at the Jesuit school in Sarrià. As a young man, he was one of the driving forces behind the club's ice hockey team, where he would later play goalkeeper. He discovered the sport in the 1970s while vacationing in Puigcerdà. He also played field hockey for Atlético de Terrassa.

Creu de Sant Jordi (Cross of St. George)

Carles Vilarrubí was married to Sol Daurella, president of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and the richest person in CataloniaHe had three children: two from his first marriage to Maria Rosa Jordà and a daughter with Daurella. In 2015, he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi for his role in key moments in the country's history, where he always sought to act as a bridge with a constructive spirit. During his time at the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition, Vilarrubí was instrumental in expanding the National Gastronomy Awards, as well as broadening the academic activity through the addition of new members, such as Fina Puigdevall and Jordi Vilà, who joined this summer. He also encouraged the consumption of our traditional and often undervalued game cuisine. Vilarrubí was a staunch defender of Catalan cuisine, denouncing its absence as a search engine criterion and the fact that there were practically no restaurants in Barcelona that included the term "Catalan cuisine" on their signage.

"A man of the country"

Apart from FC Barcelona, ​​several personalities have already expressed their condolences for Vilarrubí's death via social media. XThe President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, highlighted the "communicative legacy" left by Vilarrubí thanks to his role in founding Catalunya Ràdio and RAC1. Former President Pere Aragonès also expressed his shock at the businessman's death. "A man deeply committed to the country and with a great capacity for driving change," he said. The President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Josep Rull, asserted that Vilarrubí "dedicated his life to the ideal of building the nation" and that "he loved Catalonia and made it better." "He strengthened the nation through politics, sports, communication, and gastronomy," he said.

From the business world, the Catalan employers' association Foment del Treball has also lamented the death of Vilarrubí, whom they described in a message to X as "a consensus businessman" and a "multifaceted and entrepreneurial man", who was also a member of the advisory board of this business organization.