Facundo Bacardi

Who was Facundo Bacardi?

Don Facundo Bacardi Massó was a Catalan businessman. In 1862 he founded the eponymous Bacardi rum distillery.

Bacardi was born in Sitges, son of a family of bricklayers. He followed his older brothers to Cuba, finding employment in their general store in Santiago. Over time, he saved up his own capital, and in 1844 he established his own mercantile shop.

Just three months earlier he had married Amalia Moreau, a woman of independent means who additionally had a wealthy godmother named Clara Astie. Both would prove to be sources of capital for Facundo's business ventures. Facundo and Amalia went on to have a number of children, many of whom would play important parts in building the rum business for which the family became famous: Emilio was born in 1844, Juan in 1846, Facundo Jr. in 1848, María in 1851, José in 1857, and Amalia Jr. in 1861.

An earthquake followed by a cholera epidemic devastated Santiago in 1852, claiming Juan and María and sending Facundo and his family to Catalonia for a number of months to escape. Upon his return, Facundo found his store looted and business conditions in Santiago poor in the wake of the disaster and amid a global slump in sugar, the mainstay of the economy. Facundo's business wasn't able to recover, and it was bankrupt in 1855.