Julio Mario Santo Domingo

Julio Mario Santo Domingo Pumarejo (October 16, 1923 – October 7, 2011) was a Colombian businessman, diplomat and patriarch of the wealthy Santo Domingo family. He controlled more than 100 companies in the diversified portfolio of the "Santo Domingo Group." He was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the wealthiest men in the world, and the second wealthiest in Colombia, with a fortune of $8 billion US dollars. He was the founder of a philanthropic foundation, named to honor his father, that benefits Colombia's social development.

Julio Mario Santo Domingo was born on 16 October 1923 in Panama City, Panama, to Julio Mario Santo Domingo Santo Domingo and Beatriz Pumarejo de Vengoechea, the youngest of their four children; his older siblings were Beatriz Alicia, Cecilia, and Luis Felipe. His father was a banker, described as austere and disciplined, who made a fortune buying companies weakened during the Great Depression; his mother, from a rich and influential family, was first cousin of Alfonso López Pumarejo who was twice President of Colombia. He grew up in Barranquilla and later attended the exclusive Gimnasio Moderno in Bogotá, D.C., ultimately culminating his secondary studies at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts; he later attended University of Virginia before transferring to Georgetown University, but did not finish his degree.

On 26 May 1980, President Julio César Turbay Ayala appointed Santo Domingo to be the first Ambassador of Colombia to China. He presented his Letters of Credence to Ulanhu, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, in Beijing on 17 February 1981.

The Group has a majority stake in Bavaria Brewery and Valores Bavaria (a holding company for his non-beer interests). In 2005, Bavaria Brewery merged with South African company SABMiller. In this merging, the group acquired 15.1% of SAB Miller, becoming the second-largest shareholder of the second-largest beer company in the world (behind Anheuser-Busch InBev).

Portfolio

• Caracol TV (Colombian television channel)
  • Caracol TV International
  • Caracol Radio (sold to PRISA in 2001)
• Cromos (magazine)
• El Espectador (newspaper)
• SABMiller (14% stake)
• Avianca (sold in 2004 to Germán Efromovich)
• Bluradio (radio station)

• Timmons, Heather (2005-07-19). "SABMiller and Bavaria announce a major transaction in Latin America". International Herald Tribune. 
• "SABMiller buys brewer to grow in Latin America". SAB Miller. 2005-07-19. 
• Forbes Billionaires, 2006

He first married to Edyala Braga Brandão do Monte, a Brazilian socialite, daughter of Brazilian ambassador in Paris and former wife of Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas' brother. Together they had one son, Julio Mario Santo Domingo Braga (1958–2009), but the marriage did not last long and they divorced shortly after. He remarried on 15 February 1975 to Colombian socialite Beatrice Dávila Rocha, and together they had two sons, Alejandro Santo Domingo Dávila (b. 1977) who has continued on in the family business and Andrés Santo Domingo Dávila (b. 1978) the co-founder and president of Kemado Records, whose 2008 wedding to the socialite Lauren Davis (then founder of the online fashion retailer Moda Operandi).

Santo Domingo owned homes in New York City, in Paris, and Barú, a Colombian island near Cartagena.

His first marriage was to Edyala Braga Brandão do Monte, an aristocratic Brazilian, with whom he had a son:

• Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Jr. (1958–2009) m. Vera Rechulski, a Brazilian socialite
  • Tatiana Santo Domingo (born November 24, 1983)
  • Julio Mario Santo Domingo III (born May 2, 1985)

• "Colombian Businessman Julio Mario Santo Domingo Braga Dies". Latin American Herald Tribune. 2009-03-29.