The Popular Group reports the bankruptcy today of the founder and first president of the Banco Popular Dominicana and the Popular Group, Mr. Alejandro E. Grullón E.
The cause of death, which occurred in the city of La Romana, was established by the medical delivery offered by Dr. José López, who diagnoses cardio-respiratory arrest, after the prominent banker and businessman had been presenting with health problems.
For reasons of the pandemic and to respect the sanitary protocols of prevention, conventional funeral acts will not be carried out, if it is not formed private and in total family intimacy.
Mr. Alejandro E. Grullón E. was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, on April 3, 1929. He was the son of Manuel Grullón Rodríguez-Objío and Amantina Espaillat González, who also fathered the also deceased Arturo Grullón Espaillat and Máximo Grullón Espaillat.
On the part of his mother, Dona Amantina, the deceased banker is a descendant of Tomás Bobadilla y Briones and Ignacio María González, who directed the destinies of the nation in a period of the 19th century.
The line of his father, Manuel Grullón Rodríguez-Objío, is dignifiedly represented by Máximo Grullón Salcedo, Procurator of the Restoration; the outstanding writer Virgilio Díaz Grullón and Arturo Grullón Julia, the first Dominican graduate surgeon to practice this specialty in the country and who also stood out for capturing on canvas and photography the human faces he studied scientifically, arriving to make beautiful paintings.
After completing his high school studies at the Normal School “Ulysses Francisco Espaillat”, in Santiago de los Caballeros, Don Alejandro attended Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, where he began studying medicine, later moving to the University from Syracuse, New York, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Forest Science.
Upon his return to the country, he initially worked in sawmills owned by his family, forming part, in the early 60s, of the Association for Development, Inc., an organization that gave impetus to institutions such as the Pontifical Catholic University Mother and Teacher , the Dominican People’s Bank, the Higher Institute of Agriculture (ISA) and the Center for Research and Improvement of Animal Production (CIMPA), among others.
From his time as an entrepreneur in the agricultural area, Don Alejandro noticed the need for better financial services for Dominican society and, in August 1963, based on an investment of capital and talent. Dominican Republic, the authorization of the Monetary Board for the foundation of the Dominican Popular Bank was abrió, institution that abrió its doors the 2 of January of 1964, being the first bank of Dominican private capital.
Under his direction multiple financial institutions will be created that, later, with the promulgation of the Monetary and Financial Law of 2002, have reunited under the figure of the Dominican Popular Bank, SA – Multiple Bank, as well as of Popular Group , SA, for the parent company.
Its contributions will also create international subsidiaries such as BPD Bank, which operated until 2013 under US law in New York, recognized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Popular Bank, which operates under the laws. of the Republic of Panama.
Contributions were also made to the institutionalization of the national financial sector through the foundation of the Association of Commercial Banks (ABA) and prominent social welfare institutions such as the Dominican Development Foundation (FDD), to strengthen the institution. democratic like the Foundation Institutionality and Justice (FINJUS) and of preservation and cultural projection like the Museum of The Altagracia.
He currently chairs the Popular Foundation, Inc. In 2014, the Boards of Directors and Shareholders’ Meetings appointed Ad Vitam as Chairman and the Board Emeritus of the Popular Group and the Banco Popular. He was also Governor of the Commission for Monitoring the Remodeling and Maintenance of the Basilica of the Cathedral of Our Lady of La Altagracia and President of the Sierra Plan. In addition, he was a member of the Cova de les Maravilles Board of Trustees Foundation, the Sur Futuro Foundation and the Presidential Advisory Council.
As a result of his marriage to Mrs. Dinorah Viñas Messina (deceased), he fathered Manuel Alejandro, Virginia María and Eduardo José Grullón Viñas; and, together with his current wife, Melba Segura Castillo, Alexandra María Grullón Segura.
For his valuable contributions to our society he was recognized with the degree of Commander by the “Order of Duarte, Sánchez y Mella”, with the degree Gran Cruz Silver Plate by the “Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus”, both emanating from the Presidency of the Republic.
Additionally, it received the “Order of San Gregorio Magno”, in the degree of Horseman of Great Cross, granted by His Holiness Juan Pablo II; an Honoris Causa Doctorate in Humanities, from the Pontifical Catholic University Mother and Teacher, in 1997; and an Honoris Causa Doctorate in Administration Sciences, from the Central University of the East, in 2008.