Fuad Char | |
---|---|
Senator of Colombia | |
In office 20 July 2010 – 20 July 2014 | |
In office 20 July 1998 – 20 July 2006 | |
In office 20 July 1990 – 20 April 1995 | |
21st Colombia Ambassador to Portugal | |
In office 30 September 2008 – 5 June 2009 | |
President | Álvaro Uribe |
Preceded by | Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza |
Succeeded by | Arturo Sarabia |
14th Minister of Economic Development | |
In office 1987–1988 | |
President | Virgilio Barco |
Preceded by | Miguel Merino Gordillo |
Succeeded by | Carlos Arturo Marulanda |
48th Governor of Atlántico | |
In office 1984–1987 | |
President | Belisario Betancur |
Preceded by | Abel Francisco Carbonell |
Succeeded by | Gerardo Certain |
Personal details | |
Born | Fuad Ricardo Char Abdala 5 October 1937 Lorica, Córdoba, Colombia |
Political party | Radical Change |
Other political affiliations | Liberal |
Spouse | Adela Chaljub Char (1994) |
Children | |
Fuad Ricardo Char Abdala (born 5 October 1937) is a businessman and retired politician. He is the founder of Grupo Empresarial Olímpicasenator, governor of Atlántico, and minister of Economic Development (position now fused into the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism)
. He served in different terms as aFuad was the son of Ricardo Char, an immigrant from Damascus, Syria, who arrived in Colombia in 1926.[1][2][3] He is the eldest out of seven children, his other siblings were Jabib, Farid, Simón, and, Ricardo.[4]
His uncle Nicólas had started a business that quickly grew profitable, and the family moved to Barranquilla in 1952, where they started what would become Grupo Empresarial OlímpicaJunior Barranquilla.
, a conglomerate that would make his family one of the most influential in the Colombian Caribbean Coast. It grew into a conglomerate that included Supermercados Olimpicos, the radio station Olímpica Stéreo, and the ownership ofFuad, married his first cousin Adela Chaljub Char, daughter of Antonio Chaljub, an immigrant from Lebanon and Rosa Char Zaslawy, his aunt from Syria. Together they had three children: Antonio, Arturo, and Alejandro. After becoming a widower in 1994, he remarried in 2004 to Maria Mercedes de la Espriella.[5]