Manuel Rionda

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

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

Early life

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

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

Rionda married Harriet Clarke.[1] 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

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] 40.933872°N 73.933230°W / 40.933872; -73.933230

Further reading
  • 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
  1. 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. 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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