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

BarcelonaCarlos Vilarrubí died early this morning in Barcelona at the age of 71. A native of Barcelona, ​​Vilarrubí was involved in the most important institutions in the country and in recent years was particularly linked to gastronomy, serving as president of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition since 2016, where he was considered a man of consensus. Dedicated to business and banking, he was also a close associate of Jordi Pujol and a key figure in the early days of Convergència i Unió, a fact that led him to participate in the creation of Catalunya Ràdio, serve as director of the Catalan Government's Gaming and Betting Authority, and as a board member of the Catalan Radio and Television Corporation. The other institution to which Vilarrubí was closely linked was FC Barcelona. A huge Barça fan, Vilarrubí explained that he fell in love with Cruyff in the 70s. He was part of Sandro Rosell's board that won the elections in 2010 and remained at 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 maintained and Bartomeu himself eventually accepted. A fervent supporter of the club's Catalan nationalist wing, he spearheaded 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.

As a young man, he had become one of the driving forces behind the club's ice hockey team, where he would be the goalkeeper, a sport he had discovered in the 1970s while on holiday in Puigcerdà. He also played field hockey for Atlético de Terrassa.

Creu de Sant Jordi

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. Vilarrubí also served as president of the business holding company CVC Grupo Consejeros and the insurance brokerage Willis S&C. 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 liaison with a constructive spirit. In the business world, he also served on the board of directors of several companies, including Telefónica, Fira de Barcelona, and Antena 3, among others. During his time at the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition, Vilarrubí was instrumental in expanding the National Gastronomy Awards and broadening the Academy's activities by bringing in new members, such as Fina Puigdevall and Jordi Vilà. He also promoted the consumption of local and often undervalued game cuisine. Vilarrubí has been 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 with the term "Catalan cuisine" on their sign.