Palau Macaya pays tribute to former UNESCO director Federico Mayor Zaragoza

BarcelonaThe Macaya Palace of the La Caixa Foundation has paid tribute to the former director general of UNESCO Federico Mayor Zaragoza, who died in December. The event, organised by UNESCO and the Club of Rome, highlighted the contribution of the Catalan intellectual to areas such as universal education, science at the service of society and the culture of peace.

Mayor Zaragoza (1934-2024) was a doctor in pharmacy, professor of biochemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Granada and rector of this university. He was also vice-president of the Higher Council for Scientific Research and co-founder of the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre. He held political positions such as undersecretary of Education and Science in the Spanish government, and was Minister of Education (1981-1982) under the government of Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo. He was also a member of the European Parliament (1987), and that same year he was appointed Director General of UNESCO, a position he held until 1999. Mayor Zaragoza also created the Culture of Peace Foundation and was a member of various national and international organizations, academies and associations.

The tribute ceremony was attended by the Deputy Director General of UNESCO, Gabriela Ramos; the Minister of the European Union and External Action of the Generalitat, Jaume Duch; and the President of the Education Council of Catalonia, Joan Manuel del Pou. Also in attendance were the Scientific Director of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Denise Naniche; the Director of the Catalan International Institute for Peace (ICIP), Kristian Herbolzheimer, and the Director of the DEMOS-PAZ University Institute of the Autonomous University of Madrid, Carlos Giménez.