PLÁCIDO ARANGO ARIAS
Presidency: 1987-1996
President of the Prince of Asturias Foundation from July 1987 to March 1996, Plácido Arango, (Tampico, Mexico, 1931 - Madrid, España, 2020) was founder of Grupo Vips.
Born in Mexico to Asturian immigrants, he lived in Spain since 1966. A businessman, he had a Doctorate in Economics from the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology.
He founded Grupo Vips, one of the most important restaurant companies, in 1969.
He was an associate member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, a member of the board of trustees of the National Museum Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, a founding member and member of the executive committee of the Foundation for Help Against Drug Addiction, and trustee emeritus of New York’s Metropolitan Museum and Boston’s Tufts University.
He had been honoured with the following awards: the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit, the Gold Medal for the Fine Arts, the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute of New York’s Gold Medal and the Juan Lladó Award for Cultural Patronage and Research. He had been named Adoptive Son of Salas – the town where his father was born – and also of the Principality of Asturias. He received the Manzana de Oro from the Asturian Centre of Madrid, the Llámpara Natural from Salinas (Asturias), the Madreña de Oro from the Asturian Centre of Seville and the Gold Medal of Asturias.
He owned an important art collection and he was president of the Prado Museum’s Royal Board of Trustees since 2007 until 2012.