Hernán García de Gonzalo

From the old historic books kept at the Diocesan Historic Archive in Logroño it is known that the first member of the Garcia De Gonzalo family is recorded in the first book, page 10, the year 1529 with the name Hernan De Garcia, father of Pedro De Garcia.

He was the father of Pedro Garcia (1529), grandfather of Juan de Garcia y La Solana (1565) and great-grandfather of Juan de Garcia y Soto (1585).

The latter was granted the privilege of adding De Gonzalo to his last name because he belonged to the lineage and family of Tejada, where one of the 7 children of General Sancho Fernandez de Tejada was named Gonzalo.

As a legitimate descendant, Hernan Garcia de Gonzalo y Vidal holds honorary and nobility rights such as the use of de Tejada as part of his last name and the exclusive use of the Coat of Arms, blazon described in the Royal Cedula of Henry IV, given in Valladolid the 1st.

of September 1460, confirmed by the Catholic Monarchs, the Emperor Charles V and his successors until King Juan Carlos I in 1981.

Today Hernan Garcia De Gonzalo de Tejada y Vidal lives in Miami married to Lorena Coppa Aranda and has two sons and one daughter, Ricardo, Simon, and Chantal.

From previous marriages, he has two sons and two daughters, Pablo, Daniel, Constanza, and Cynthia.

Garcia De Gonzalo attended high school at the Liceo Blanco Encalada de Talca, Chile.

As a teenager his main intellectual and political influence came from his father.

In 1605 Juan de Garcia y Soto (the young), was granted to add to his last name De Gonzalo as a reward for fighting the Moors for many generations.

The first time he used the last name Garcia De Gonzalo was when he married Isabel de Baldecantos, in Enciso.

From that moment on the last name Garcia De Gonzalo was used for eight generations.

Hernan Garcia Vidal great grandfather, Faustino Garcia De Gonzalo, was the one that cut off the last name De Gonzalo.

The coat of arms was certified in 2012 by Alfonso de Ceballos-Escalera Gila, Duke of Ostuni, Visconti of Ayala, Marques de la Floresta in charge of The board of Castilla y Leon, by the Royal Decree of July 29, 1915.

Hernán García de Gonzalo de Tejada y Vidal (born December 23, 1928), is a retired Chilean diplomat and academic.

He entered to study at the University of North Carolina in 1948, then transferred to the University of Miami, Florida, USA, where he graduated in 1953 in Engineering Science and Mechanical Engineering.

After he graduated from the University of Miami in 1953, he entered to work at the Department of Engineering at the Pacific Steel Company in Huachipato, Talcahuano, Chile.

From 1955 to 1956 he was in charge of the inventory of the entire plant.

After working at the Pacific Steel Company, Shell Chile hired him for the Technical Department, where he worked from 1956 to 1958.

Shell would later award Hernan Garcia De Gonzalo de Tejada y Vidal with a grant to study economics at the Graduate School of Economics of the University of Chile.

After finishing his degree at the University of Chile he was awarded a fellowship by the Organization of American States to study at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1957 he studied for two years in the Center of Economic Planning of the University of Chile, where he obtained a Master in Economic Planning.

In 1961 the Organization of American States granted him a fellowship to study Regional Economics at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia were in 1963 he graduated with a Master in Regional Science.

When he returned in 1963 he entered to work at the United Nations' CEPAL in Santiago, as an industrial economist with the task to localize the main industries and sources of hydroelectric power in Latin America.

In 1973 he got a Diploma in University Administration from the United States Agency for International Development.

A former Provost of the University of Chile (1975-1980), former Consul General of Thailand in Chile, Vice-minister of Planning of Chile, and Economist for the United Nations.

As the Provost of the University of Chile he was awarded special recognition by NASA, the University of Chile Council of Deans awarded him the Andrés Bello Medal.

He was appointed honorary member of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the National University of Asuncion in Paraguay.

In 1977 he studied for a short period at the University of Southern California, at the School of Education where he specialized in Higher Education.

While serving as the Consul General of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej Rama IX appointed him Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand (1987), Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant of the Crown of Thailand (1992) and Commander of Knighthood of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand (1997).

From his father's side, Hernan Garcia de Gonzalo de Tejada y Vidal belongs to a traditional family from La Rioja (Spain), that for centuries was involved in agriculture and in the defends of the Church-Fortress of St Peter in Enciso.

Eight generations of his family are buried in the garden of that same church.

His father Mr. Enrique Garcia, born in San Vicente de Munilla, La Rioja, Spain, around the time he was 15 years of age was taken to Casilda, Argentina by his maternal uncles to take care of their properties.

After five years Mr. Enrique Garcia was taken to Chile to manage the farms Aucar, el Toro y Chaquihual of 78,000 acres in Chiloé.

This was the start of the Garcia De Gonzalo family in Chile.

On the mother side, they were sailors that came from Spain.

Hernan Garcia de Gonzalo de Tejada y Vidal's grandfather Juan Vidal Haro owned a passenger ship that took people among the islands south of Puerto Montt.

The brothers of Mrs. Juana Vidal were captains of passenger-cargo ships that traveled in and out of Chile, in particular to Australia.

Hernan Garcia Vidal, the fourteenth generation, on January 26, 2003, recovered De Gonzalo.

Hernan Garcia de Gonzalo y Vidal on October 7, 2012 was received and enrolled in the Solar de Tejada as a legitimate descendant of Hernan García born in Enciso around 1498.