Fernando L. De Ybarra
Fernando L. De Ybarra (c1844-1888)
1888 Obituary [1]
DON FERNANDO L. DE YBARRA was a native of Bilbao (Spain), where he died on the 22nd of September last, at the age of forty-four, from an illness of long standing.
From the age of twenty-one until the year 1885 the deceased gentleman had been closely connected and in partnership with the firm of Messrs. Ybarra, Hermanos & Co., of Bilbao. This company is in possession of iron ore mines in the Somorrostro district, and owns important iron and steel works near Bilbao. Deceased was chiefly engaged in the management of the mining department of the firm. He took an active part in the formation of the Orconera Iron Ore Co. (Limited), which is the most important mining company in the Somorrostro district, and ships annually over one million tons of ore. He was a director of this company until the time of his death.
Don F. L. de Ybarra was also a director in the "Sociedad de Alto. Homes y Fabricas de hierro y acero de Bilbao," which possesses very extensive iron and steel works at Baracaldo, where they can turn out yearly over 12,000 tons of merchant bar iron, and 50,000 tons of Bessemer and Siemens steel, in the form of rails, girders, plates, blooms, &c.
On account of his bad health, Don F. L. de Ybarra was obliged to retire from active business some years ago, and he then devoted himself most earnestly to the welfare of the workmen and of the poorer classes. He became a member of all the different charity boards in Bilbao, and founded gratuitous schools, hospitals, and asylums of different sorts, to the maintenance of which he devoted a very large part of his income.
Don Fernando L. de Ybarra was of a very amiable disposition, and of sound judgment, and these qualities made him much esteemed and beloved, not only by his fellow-citizens, but also by all strangers with whom he maintained business connections. At one time he was elected Alcalde of the Municipality of Bilbao, and on more than one occasion he was offered a seat in the Spanish Parliament, to represent the mining and industrial district of Viscaya, but this he always modestly declined to accept.
His funeral was largely attended by all the different classes and corporations of Bilbao and the surrounding district, who thereby showed the great sorrow they felt for the lamented death of a good citizen, a charitable benefactor, and a straightforward and intelligent business man.
He became a member of the Institute in 1870.