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 dedicated himself to the world of business and banking. He was also 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 Entity for Games and Betting (EAJA), the Generalitat's lottery, which never became the large company Pujol envisioned because the State blocked its growth. Even so, Vilarrubí was responsible for launching Europe's first online lottery, 6/49. More recently, he was one of the businessmen accused in the Pujol case of money laundering and attended the start of this trial at the National Court in late November. 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/PortAventura. 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.

In time, he joined the board of directors of La Seda. There he met Artur Mas and, later, once the Majestic pact between the PP and CiU was sealed, he ended up on the governing body of Telefónica, in the midst of the television platform battle between the Prisa group (The Country, the SER) and The Worldby Pedro J. Ramírez, who was accompanied by the government of José María Aznar (PP).

Years later he was hired as vice president of the Rothschild bank –one of the most important banking dynasties in the world–, he was president of CVC, Oxer Sport, the insurance brokerage Willis S&C C and a member of the board of directors of Fira de Barcelona, ​​among other positions.

Great Barcelona supporter

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 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 and joined Sandro Rosell's candidacy, 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 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 Franco's troops during the Civil War.

Vilarrubí, son of an executive at the German multinational AEG, 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 played goalkeeper. He discovered the sport in the 1970s while vacationing in Puigcerdà. He also played field hockey for Atlètic Terrassa.

Creu de Sant Jordi (Cross of Saint 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 another daughter with Daurella. In 2015, he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi for his role in key moments for the country, 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 academic activity through the addition of new members this summer, such as Fina Puigdevall and Jordi Vilà. He also encouraged the consumption of our traditional and often undervalued game cuisine. Vilarrubí was a staunch defender of Catalan cuisine and criticized its absence as a search engine criterion, or the fact that in Barcelona there were practically no restaurants with the term "Catalan cuisine" on their sign. "A man of the people"

Aside from FC Barcelona, ​​several prominent figures have already expressed their condolences for Vilarrubí's death on social media. The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, highlighted the "communicative legacy" he leaves behind thanks to his role in founding Catalunya Ràdio and RAC1. Former President Pere Aragonès also expressed his shock at the businessman's passing. "A man deeply committed to the country and with a great capacity for drive," he said. The President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Josep Rull, affirmed 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 Fomento del Trabajo also lamented Vilarrubí's death, describing him in a message to X as "a consensus-building businessman" and a "multifaceted and entrepreneurial man," as he was also a member of the organization's advisory board. The president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín, remembered the Catalan as "a great friend, one of those we always say are full of life, with whom we enjoyed so many moments sharing stories that no one could tell better." The banker acknowledged that he left his mark in all areas, "always with great discretion," and that he was a "cultured and much-loved person, close to small business owners and the community."