Manuel Rionda (1854–1943) was a Spanish-born, US-based sugar baron in
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
.
Early life
Manuel Rionda was born in 1854 in
Noreña
Noreña is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is surrounded by the municipality of Siero. It is the smallest municipality in Asturias and the second smallest in Spain, and one of the ones with th ...
,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
.
The Rionda family began investing in Cuban sugar in the 1860s.
By 1870, when Rionda was sixteen, Rionda emigrated to
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
.
Career
Rionda co-founded the Czarnikow-Rionda Company with
Julius Caesar Czarnikow
Julius Caesar Czarnikow (1838 – 17 April 1909) was a German-born, London-based sugar broker and investor.
Early life
Julius Caesar Czarnikow was born in 1838 in Sondershausen, in the German Confederation. He was of Polish Jewish descent. His ...
in 1909.
By 1915, he co-founded the Cuba Cane Sugar Company with his family.
Rionda was the owner of sugar plantations in Cuba.
Prior to the 1930s, Czarnikow-Rionda Company "sold 40 per cent of Cuba's sugar".
Personal life
Rionda married Harriet Clarke,
and they resided at Rio Vista estate, a 300-acre estate in
Alpine, New Jersey
Alpine is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is the List of extreme points of U.S. states, easternmost town in New Jersey.
...
.
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.
Death and legacy
Rionda died in 1943.
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.
Further reading
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rionda, Manuel
1854 births
1943 deaths
American businesspeople
19th-century Cuban businesspeople
People from Alpine, New Jersey
Spanish emigrants
Immigrants to the United States
Businesspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey