Rodrigo Noguera Laborde

Born in Santa Marta on October 22, 1919. At the age of twelve he moved to Bogotá and entered the Colegio del Rosario where he finished his high school, then he moved to the recently founded Faculty of Law at the Universidad Javeriana, where he obtained a doctorate in law, Economic Sciences and Philosophy and Letters .[3]

His parents were Rodrigo Noguera Barreneche and Genoveva Laborde Riveira. He married Mrs. Leonor Calderón de Noguera. They are his children: Rodrigo, Luis Alberto, Jorge, Camilo, María Clara and Carmen Cecilia.

Appointed professor of Javerian Law by the illustrious Jesuit Félix Restrepo. He has been a teacher at this University for 49 continuous years. Distinguished himself by leading an exemplary life in summary a comprehensive humanist, to his teaching at the Universidad Javeriana he then added that of Del Rosario and that of the National University, this university in which he was dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, and in Grancolombia where he founded Philosophy.[4]

His great patriotic concern was to contemplate with sadness the decline of the values that give him the raison d'être and greatness in life. From there was born the noble idea, shared with Álvaro Gómez Hurtado, of founding a School not to teach rules and dogmas, but to spread culture, which is what remains in the soul, after having forgotten everything learned.

Throughout his life, and parallel to the apostolate of sharing his knowledge with students, he continued to scrutinize the mysteries of Law, Philosophy, Theology, and History. As a result of his judicious investigations and deep meditations, he published 16 books, which constitute study manuals for his students. The following stand out among them: Auxiliary rights of the creditor, degree thesis, awarded by the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in 1942; Documentary background of the Constitution of 1886; Kant, introduction to the fundamentals of his philosophy, in 1952; Natural law (class notes), in 1992; Conflict of laws in time, in 1992; General Introduction to Law, Volume I and II, in 1994; Elements of the philosophy of law, in 1996; Natural Law and Positive Law, in 1998 and Religious Culture, in 1998.

In his capacity as a disinterested militant of the Conservative party, he exercised the functions of Minister of Mines and Petroleum, under the presidency of his friend Laureano Gómez, and of Justice in times of the Government Military Junta. When he withdrew from it, the Military Government Junta conferred on him the honorary rank of Colonel, the highest grade allowed, in the case of civilians. Likewise, due to his knowledge and rectitude of character, he was Attorney General of the Nation in the government of Laureano Gómez, a position from which he resigned during the 1953 coup, but to which he returned during the first government of the National Front, in the presidency of Alberto Lleras Camargo.[5]

For his tireless service to Colombia and academia, he was the object of various distinctions, including the Cruz de Boyacá, in the degree of 'Grand Cross', with the Antonio Nariño Order, the Pontifical Javeriana University Order, the Rodrigo de Bastidas Order and with the José Acevedo y Gómez Order of Merit, in the degree of “Grand Cross”, the “José María Córdova” decoration of the Military Forces and the Francisco de Paula Santander Order.

As Rector of the Sergio Arboleda University, during the last 20 years of his life, he guided this house of higher studies within academic rigor and Christian humanism. There remains the testimony of his work that remains valid. The echo of his wise teachings will never disappear from Sergio's classrooms, just as the wisdom of his pleasant and cultured conversation will always remain alive and fresh, in the memory of those who knew him.[6]

Retired from the Javeriana, in 1984 he founded the Universidad Sergio Arboleda in Bogotá and ran the chair of Philosophy of Law since the creation of the School, from which he retired a year and a half before his death.

The nascent University was given the name of Sergio Arboleda, who came up in the talks that Dr. Noguera held every Monday on the history of Colombia. Antonio Álvarez Restrepo, Samuel Hoyos Arango, Samuel Arango Reyes and the journalist Arturo Abella attended, among others, these enjoyable meetings called 'Historical Mondays'.

Ten years later, on February 2, 1994, as a result of his visionary commitment and love for his land, Dr. Noguera Laborde founded the Universidad Sergio Arboleda, Santa Marta section, to contribute to the comprehensive training not only of the young people of his native city, but of the entire coast.

Acted as director of the board of the school Gimnasio los Caobos alongside: Gabriel Giraldo, Alvaro González, S.J.; Alfonso Valdivieso, former Minister of Education; Alicia Martínez de Suárez, rector of the gym; Felipe Diago Jabois, director of the Student Environment; Eduardo Vergara Wiesner, Roberto Camacho, Trudy Kling, and Jaime Guzmán Vargas and Rodrigo Noguera Laborde, as rector of the Sergio Arboleda University.[7]

Dr. Rodrigo Noguera Laborde, died in Bogotá on June 28, 2004, a few days before the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Sergio Arboleda University.[8]