Cristóbal Colón, founder of La Fageda, dies

BarcelonaThe founder of La Fageda, Cristóbal Colón Palasí, has died this Thursday at the age of 77, as family sources have explained to the ARA. A psychologist by profession, he launched the La Fageda project in 1982 as a rehabilitation tool for people with mental illnesses. Colón Palasí, born in 1949 in Zuera (Saragossa), held the presidency of La Fageda until March 2024, at which point he stepped down from his executive duties and was named honorary president.

As Colón explained in October 2024, within the framework of the Personality Recognition award annually granted by the Vallesan business association Cecot, he decided to undertake La Fageda after years of working in psychiatric hospitals. There, he realized the need to create a company outside of these centers that would focus on labor therapy, his specialty. His goal was for people with disabilities to be able to "regain their dignity" through "real work," seeing that in psychiatric hospitals they only did "crafts."

The company indicated in a statement that Cristóbal Colón dedicated more than four decades to promoting a project "built on the conviction that every person deserves an opportunity." At the same time, they explained that "his view towards the human being and the way of understanding work as a tool for dignification" have "deeply" marked the project and have contributed to demonstrating that "putting the economy at the service of people is possible." In this sense, they highlight a phrase that the deceased "often repeated": "At La Fageda we are not dedicated to making yogurts, but to improving lives, and whoever does not understand this does not understand La Fageda."

"A benchmark of the social economy in Catalonia"

Currently, La Fageda employs more than 500 people, in a task that brought Colón recognitions such as the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2009 or the Lluís Companys Memorial Award from the Josep Irla Foundation in 2010. In June 2024, the University of Girona (UdG) invested him as doctor honoris causa. The rector of the institution stated then that with his person, the university incorporated "emotional intelligence" into the faculty.

The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has echoed the passing with a message on X in which he stated that Colón "demonstrated that inclusion and dignity are also built by creating opportunities". He also considered that the La Fageda project "has transformed many lives and has become a benchmark for the social economy in Catalonia". The head of the Catalan executive has conveyed his condolences to the family, friends, and the entire team of the cooperative.