Manuel Rionda

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Manuel Rionda y Polledo
Born1854
Noreña, Spain
Died1943
Alpine, New Jersey, U.S.
OccupationBusinessman
SpouseHarriet Clarke

Manuel Rionda (1854–1943) was a Spanish-born, US-based sugar baron in Cuba.

Early life[edit]

Manuel Rionda was born in 1854 in Noreña, Spain.[1][2] The Rionda family began investing in Cuban sugar in the 1860s.[3] By 1870, when Rionda was sixteen, Rionda emigrated to Cuba.[2]

Career[edit]

Rionda co-founded the Czarnikow-Rionda Company with Julius Caesar Czarnikow in 1909.[4] By 1915, he co-founded the Cuba Cane Sugar Company with his family.[2]

Rionda was the owner of sugar plantations in Cuba.[1] Prior to the 1930s, Czarnikow-Rionda Company "sold 40 per cent of Cuba's sugar".[2]

Personal life[edit]

Rionda married Harriet Clarke,[1] and they resided at Rio Vista estate, a 300-acre estate in Alpine, New Jersey.[1][5] They had no children, but they raised his orphaned nephew, Manuel Enrique Rionda, who later resided on the Glen Goin estate in Alpine with his wife, Ellen Goin.[1]

Death and legacy[edit]

Rionda died in 1943.[6] A tower designed by architect Charles Rollinson Lamb on his former estate still stands in Alpine, New Jersey, one of the most affluent zipcodes in the United States.[7][8] 40°56′02″N 73°56′00″W / 40.933872°N 73.933230°W / 40.933872; -73.933230

Further reading[edit]

  • McAvoy, Muriel (2003). Sugar Baron: Manuel Rionda and the Fortunes of Pre-Castro Cuba. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 9780813026138. OCLC 50510804.
  • McGillivray, Gillian (2009). Blazing Cane: Sugar Communities, Class, and State-Formation in Cuba. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822345428.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e Davis, E. Emory; Nelsen, Eric (2007). New Jersey's Palisades Interstate Park. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 29–32. ISBN 9780738549729. OCLC 144399264.
  2. ^ a b c d Whitney, Robert (November 2004). "Reviewed Work: Sugar Baron: Manuel Rionda and the Fortunes of Pre-Castro Cuba by Muriel McAvoy". Journal of Latin American Studies. 36 (4): 831–832. doi:10.1017/S0022216X0442851X. JSTOR 3875561.
  3. ^ Smith, Mark (1995). "The Political Economy of Sugar Production and the Environment of Eastern Cuba, 1898-1923". Environmental History Review. 19 (4): 31–48. doi:10.2307/3984691. JSTOR 3984691.
  4. ^ "Braga Brothers Collection - Contents List Continued: Record Group 3: Records of the Czarnikow-Rionda Company 1891-1984". George A. Smathers Libraries. University of Florida. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  5. ^ "[Manuel Rionda's 'Rio Vista' Estate, Alpine, NJ]". Central University Libraries. Southern Methodist University. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  6. ^ "Sugar Magnate Passes". Medford Mail Tribune. Medford, Oregon. September 3, 1943. p. 11. Retrieved April 22, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Manuel Rionda, 81, sugar company executive died late yesterday at his estate here.
  7. ^ Clemence, Sara (February 14, 2005). "The Most Expensive Home In New Jersey". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 15, 2005. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  8. ^ "A Tower In Alpine, N.J." The New York Times. February 22, 1998. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
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