Isidoro Álvarez, chairman of El Corte Inglés dies at 79

Spanish retail sector is still crying Isidoro Álvarez’s death. The founder’s nephew and former boss of Spanish well-known El Corte Inglés, the largest department store in the country of the sun, and also one of the largest in Europe.

He was actually last seen in public 14 days before he died at the group’s general shareholder’s meeting. But he was curiously admitted to the Puerto de Hierro University Hospital the same day Emilio Botín, chairman of Santander bank, died, also at 79.

Álvarez died of a heart attack on Sunday 14^th, 2014 at 79. He started working with his uncle at 18, and joined the board at only 24. At his dead, he held a fortune estimated of 1,45$ US billion.

He was named president of El Corte Inglés in 1989 following the death of Ramón Areces, his uncle and company founder.

Last year Álvarez appointed his nephew Dimas Gimeno, who has spent his professional career working at the firm, as its director general, and is expected to succeed him as chairman.