“El Siglo newspaper founder and former diplomat José Urena dies” | Daily menu

Businessman, diplomat and founder of the newspaper El Siglo, Jose Urena, died on Wednesday after a struggle with various illnesses at the age of 78.

Urena was president of the Santiago Wholesalers Association, and was also president and founder of the Dominican Merchants Federation, an entity that emerged at the time as bringing together most of the country’s food trade.

In 1980 he founded the Dominican Bank of Commerce (Bancomercio), an entity that at the time represented more than 10 percent of the assets and deposits of the country’s overall banking system after acquiring Bank of America and the Royal Bank of Canada. He was also President of the Dominican Republic Banks Association.

As a diplomat, he was the Honorary Consul of Hungary in our country, and in 2005 he was appointed Dominican Ambassador to the Empire of Japan, receiving the highest honor bestowed by the Emperor of that nation. He was also ambassador to Canada and then to Ecuador.

Orena has been featured in various charitable works such as Fundación del Dolor, San José Nursing Home, among others. In 2004, he published his memoirs, “Breaking the Silence,” “Memories of a Banker,” and other publications.

Ureña also founded other companies such as Dato Centro, food companies, insurance companies, and the Commercial Bank of Puerto Rico.

Woke and buried

The family of Jose Urena reports that the funeral will be held at the Blandino Funeral Home on Abraham Lincoln Avenue in the National District, beginning at 4:00 p.m. M this Thursday.

Next Friday, a mass will be held over his body in the church of the Puertas del Cielo Cemetery at three o’clock in the afternoon, where he will be buried after that.