Enrique Godoy Sayán

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Enrique Godoy Sayán
BornAugust 6, 1902[1]
Lima, Perú
DiedJuly 15, 1984
Miami, FL
OccupationBusinessman
Organization(s)Godoy-Sayán Oficina Aseguradora de Cuba
Banco Godoy Sayán
Spouse(s)Florence Steinhart (m. 1932-1936), Malvina Arnoldson de Godoy (m. 1937-1984)
ChildrenMalvina Godoy Arnoldson
Enrique Godoy Arnoldson

Enrique Godoy Sayán (August 6, 1902 – July 15, 1984) was a Cuban business magnate and banker. He was the founder of the insurance conglomerate Godoy-Sayán Oficina Aseguradora de Cuba Insurance Company, which dominated the insurance industry in Cuba from the 1920s until 1960.[2][3][4]

Early life[edit]

Enrique Godoy Sayán was born in Lima, Peru in 1902 to Raúl Godoy y Agostini and Angélica Sayán y Palacios.[5][6] He was sent to Cuba to study at the prestigious and avant-garde school Colegio Inglés de Marianao in 1912. In Cuba, his uncle, the banker and poet Armando Godoy, became his mentor.[7]

Career[edit]

He founded Banco Godoy-Sayán de Ahorro y Capitalización in 1954.[8] Godoy revolutionized the insurance industry in Cuba by introducing the fire and allied lines insurance into the island.

After the Cuban Revolution, he moved to Manhattan, New York, where Banco Godoy-Sayan had its United States offices, in 60 Wall Street.[9] Meanwhile, the Godoa Sayan insurance company was seized by the Fidel Castro government in October, 1960.[10] He returned to Spain in 1960 as the European representative of the banking group Crestar Bank, then United Virginia Bank, now merged with Suntrust Bank.[11] In 1964 he bought the financial group ABC de Crédito,[12] the first financial group to introduce credit cards in Spain.

Personal life[edit]

Enrique Godoy Sayán was married twice. His first wife was Florence Steinhart, daughter of railway mogul Frank Steinhart, with whom he had no children. In 1937 he married his second wife Malvina Arnoldson de Godoy, daughter of Sweden's General Consul Oscar Arnoldson. He had two children by his second marriage: Malvina Godoy Arnoldson and Enrique Godoy Arnoldson.[citation needed]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Institute for Research in Biography (New York, N.Y.); Marquis Who's Who, Inc (1965). Who's who in Finance and Industry. [etc.] Marquis Who's Who. p. 487.
  2. ^ "Banco Central de Cuba - Banca y Seguros". Archived from the original on 2013-10-06. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
  3. ^ Categorias 1 y 2 / Libro Post Anterior
  4. ^ Los 3 Niveles de Cubanos en Cuba. Blog de los Cuatro Gatos
  5. ^ Carbone Montes, F. J. GeneaNet.
  6. ^ Rafael Nieto y Cortadellas (1 January 1979). Genealogías habaneras. Vol. 2. Ediciones Hidalguia. pp. 347–. ISBN 978-84-00-04617-0.
  7. ^ Armando Godoy y Agostini - Poeta y Banquero Cubano. memorandumvitae.blogspot.com.es
  8. ^ Costa, Octavio R. (1954). "Hombres y Destinos". Publishers Editorial Cubana ISBN 1-878952-28-5
  9. ^ The Spectator: property insurance review. Chilton Company. 1948. p. 38.
  10. ^ The Weekly Underwriter. Underwriter Printing and Publishing Company. January 1962. p. 58.
  11. ^ ABC Hemeroteca, 31/03/1971, p.77
  12. ^ ABC de Crédito. Fundación Juan March CEACS -