| José Gómez-Mena | |
| Birth Name: | José Genaro Ramon Gómez-Mena Vila |
| Birth Date: | 1883 |
| Birth Place: | Spain |
| Death Date: | 1960 |
| Nationality: | Cuban |
| Occupation: | Sugar baron, Minister of Agriculture |
| Spouse: | Elizarda |
| Children: | Lillian Rosa Gomez-Mena |
| Relations: | Alfonso Fanjul Sr. (son-in-law) |
José "Pepe" Genaro Ramon Gómez-Mena Vila (1883 – 1960) was a Cuban sugar baron, and Minister of Agriculture during the Miguel Mariano Gomez government (May 20, 1936 - December 24, 1936).
He was born in 1883,[1] the son of Andrés Gómez-Mena, who came to Cuba from Spain, and Eugenia Carlota Tomasa Vila-Perez.[2]
His family owned the New Gomez-Mena Sugar Company.[3] [4]
In the 1920s, he had built the Gomez-Mena mansion in Havana, which was bequeathed to his widowed sister María Luisa Gómez-Mena Vila, the Condesa de Revilla de Camargo.[2] The Castro regime seized the Gomez-Mena mansion, and leaving its art and furnishings intact (some 33,000 antiques), renamed it the National Museum of Decorative Arts.[5] [2]
He was Minister of Agriculture during the Miguel Mariano Gomez government.
He married on 5 Feb 1917 to Olga Maria Patricia Seiglie y Martinez, and they had one child, Lillian Rosa. They later divorced.
In 1936, his daughter, Lillian Rosa Gomez-Mena y Seiglie (1918-1992), married Alfonso Fanjul Sr., which united two of the country's leading sugar fortunes, and created a combined business of ten sugar mills, three distilleries, and Cuban-wide real estate holdings.[4] [3] [5]
On 8 January 1939, he married Elizarda Sampedro, whose sister Edelmira was the first wife of Alfonso, Prince of Asturias.[6] A pre-nuptial agreement was signed in December 1937.[6]
He died in 1960, and is buried in Hillcrest Memorial Park, West Palm Beach, Florida.[1]