Miguel Urrutia Montoya (20 April 1939 – 9 July 2024) was a Colombian economist and author, who served as Titular Professor of Economics at the University of the Andes in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. He served as 12th General Manager of the Bank of the Republic of Colombia from 1993 to 2004, and as 5th Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy in 1977 during the administration of

Alfonso López Michelsen Alfonso López Michelsen (30 June 1913 – 11 July 2007) was a Colombian politician and lawyer who served as the 24th President of Colombia from 1974 to 1978. He was nicknamed "El Pollo" (The Chicken), a popular Colombian idiom for people with ...

Background

Urrutia finished his

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

Portsmouth Priory School Portsmouth Abbey School is a coeducational Catholic, Benedictine boarding and day school for students in grades 9 to 12. Founded in 1926 by the English Benedictines, the school is located on a 525-acre campus in Portsmouth, along Rhode Island's N ...

, in

Portsmouth, Rhode Island Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,871 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census. Portsmouth is the second-oldest municipality in Rhode Island, after Providence Plantations, Provide ...

, where he graduated in 1957 with Bachiller ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

''. He then attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

graduating ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in 1961 with

Bachelor of Economics A Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon)Bureau of Labor StatisticsHow to Become an Economist/ref> is an academic degree, awarded to students who have completed specialised undergraduate studies in economics. Variants include the "Bachelor of Econo ...

. He continued to pursue his studies at the received a

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he obtained his

Master of Economics The Master of Economics (MEcon or MEc) is a postgraduate master's degree in economics comprising training in economic theory, econometrics, and/or applied economics. The degree is also offered as an MS or MSc, MA or MCom in economics; var ...

in 1964, and his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Economics in 1967 with his dissertation on Labour Unions in Colombia, published by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

under the title ''History of Colombian Labor Movement''. In 1982 he served as Deputy Rector of

United Nations University The is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve list of global issues, global issues related to Human development ...

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. Among his most significant books on Colombian socio-economic history are: The Development of Colombian Labor Movement, Income Distribution in Colombia (With Albert Berry), Winners and Losers in Colombia's Economic Growth of the 1970s, and his most recent "Politica social para la equidad en Colombia: Historia y experiencias" (with Christian Robles-Baez) published in 2021 by Universidad de los Andes in Bogota.

Personal life

Miguel Urrutia Montoya was born 20 April 1939 in Bogotá, D.C. to

Francisco José Urrutia Holguín Francisco José Urrutia Holguín (28 May 1910 – 19 October 1981) was a Colombian-Ecuadorian lawyer and diplomat. He served as the seventh Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations, the 11th Colombia Ambassador to United S ...

and Genoveva Montoya Williamson. He married Elsa Pombo Kopp in Bogotá on 3 August 1963, and together they have three children: Elena, Santiago, and Isabel. Urrutia died in Bogotá on 9 July 2024, at the age of 85.

References

1939 births 2024 deaths People from Bogotá

Miguel --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands *São Miguel (disamb ...

Governors of the Bank of the Republic (Colombia) Harvard Business School alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Colombian economists Ministers of mines and energy of Colombia Academic staff of the University of Los Andes (Colombia) Portsmouth Abbey School alumni {{colombia-politician-stub