In Memoriam: Alejandro Gallard Prio

It is with great sorrow that we inform you that our good friend and exemplary Panamericanista Alejandro Gallard Prio, passed away in Buga, Colombia in early August. He was just 3 months short of his 99th birthday.  Alejandro served on the Board of Directors of the Pan American Association of Philadelphia for several terms during the late 1990s and into the early 2000s.  He was a Vice President of the organization from 1996 to 1998. 

From 1991 until 2004,  Alejandro was the Honorary Consul of Nicaragua in Philadelphia. He was a prominent leader of the Latino Community. Together with Ken Trujillo, he was the official representative of Philadelphia at the inauguration ceremonies of President Bolanos in Nicaragua.  Alejandro worked with the Rendell Administration and the Spanish Embassy to secure a statue of Don Quijote de la Mancha in 1997.  The equestrian, life-size statue  still stands at a small plaza on Second Street and Girard Avenue.

Alejandro fervently believed in the spirit of Panamericanismo and felt that Latinos should unite to attain political power.  From the very beginning of his adult life, he  was an international businessman and lived in various US cities always doing business in Latin America.   In the 1970s he worked to promote Tourism in Nicaragua and Central America and was the first Director of the Nicaraguan Convention and Tourism Bureau.   He also helped set up a similar bureau in El Salvador.  Earlier in career he worked with the Venezuelan Tourism Bureau in New Orleans.

Alejandro Gallard Prio was a gentleman’s gentleman and he will be missed.