Francisco José Orlich Bolmarcich (10 March 190729 October 1969) was a Costa Rican businessman and politician who was the 34th

President of Costa Rica The president of the Republic of Costa Rica is the head of state and head of government of Costa Rica. The president is currently elected in direct elections for a period of four years, which is not immediately renewable. Two Vice President of ...

from 1962 to 1966. He was an ethnic

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

, a descendant of Croatian settlers from the town of

Punat Punat is a municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia on the island of Krk. The municipality has a population of 1,900, with 90% Croats (2021 Croatian census, 2021). With Stara Baška being the only other settlement in th ...

on the island of

Krk Krk (; ; ; ; archaic German: ''Vegl'', ; ) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kotar county. Krk is tied with Cres as the largest Adriatic island, depending o ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. Together with his brothers he founded in 1928 FJ Orlich & Hnos Ltda. (FJ Orlich & Brothers Limited). At first a large supply store in his hometown of San Ramón, this eventually grew to become one of Costa Rica's largest coffee firms. His half-brother, Franjo J. Orlich, the namesake of the firm, moved from Costa Rica to Pennsylvania and worked for Bethlehem Steel as a Pattern Maker in the Castings Plant. A long-time friend of

José Figueres Ferrer José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer (25 September 1906 – 8 June 1990) served three terms as President of Costa Rica: 1948–1949, 1953–1958 and 1970–1974. During his first term in office he abolished the country's army, nationalized ...

, with whom he had traveled together to study in the United States, Orlich was Figueres' second in command within the National Liberation Army in the

Costa Rican Civil War The Costa Rican Civil War took place from 12 March to 24 April 1948. The conflict followed the presidential elections of 8 February 1948, in which opposition candidate Otilio Ulate defeated the ruling party's Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia. ...

. Following that, the National Liberation Party was founded in the Orlich family farm in La Paz, San Ramón. He twice served as Public Works Minister (1948–1949, 1953–1957) in Figueres' cabinets. Afterwards he ran for president in 1958, but lost to Mario Echandi Jiménez. He ran again in 1962, against the defeated 1948 leader Dr

Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (March 8, 1900 – June 9, 1970) was a Costa Rican medical doctor and politician, who served as President from 1940 to 1944. Early life Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia was born on 8 March 1900 in San José. In his ...

, and won the presidency. He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution. As a result, for the first time in human history, a

World Constituent Assembly The World Constitutional Convention (WCC), also known as the World Constituent Assembly (WCA) or the First World Constituent Assembly, took place in Interlaken, Switzerland and Wolfach, Germany, 1968. The convention aimed to foster global coopera ...

convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth. During his presidency he faced the major eruption of the Irazú volcano, that started just as U.S. President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

was visiting Costa Rica and lasted for over a year, causing major agricultural damage and landslides in the city of Cartago.

Death

He died of a stroke on 29 October 1969 in San José, at the age of 62. His widow, Marita Camacho Quirós, lived to be years old. This made her the oldest living person ever in Costa Rica, and the oldest former First Lady in the world. She outlived her husband by 55 years and 234 days.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orlich Bolmarcich, Francisco 1907 births 1969 deaths People from San Ramón, Costa Rica Costa Rican people of Croatian descent National Liberation Party (Costa Rica) politicians 20th-century presidents of Costa Rica Businesspeople in coffee 20th-century Costa Rican politicians World Constitutional Convention call signatories