Juan Alberto March Ordinas (4 October 1880 – 10 March 1962) was a Spanish financier, banker and businessman closely associated with the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War, and with the regime of Francisco Franco after the war. Juan March was at one point the sixth richest man in the world and the wealthiest in Spain. The family is still nowadays one of the richest in the world. He was born in Santa Margalida on the island of Majorca. As a young man, he smuggled tobacco from North Africa into Spain. During World War I, he supplied goods to both sides, evading the Allied blockade of the Central Powers, and the German U-boats. His power and influence increased under different Spanish governments during the reign of King Alfonso XIII. In 1926 he created the March Bank. When the monarchy was replaced by the Second Spanish Republic in 1930, March lost his influence, and was convicted and imprisoned for his illegal dealings. He escaped from prison, and fled to Gibraltar where his influence with the British government protected him against extradition. March was an important backer of the 1936 military rebellion against the Republic. He arranged Franco's flight from the Canary Islands to Spanish Morocco, to bring the colonial troops there into the coup, and personally financed the Italian airlift of those troops to Southern Spain. With the Nationalist victory in 1939, March regained all his former influence and more, and was greatly favored by the Franco regime. During World War II, the Allies employed him to keep Spain from joining the Axis. According to recently declassified documents, in 1941, the British government gave him US$10,000,000 with which to influence the top Spanish generals. In 1944, March became a supporter of the claim of Don Juan de Borbón, who had turned pro-Allied, to the Spanish throne. He also owned newspapers and funded political parties. After World War II, he was the seventh richest man in the world. In 1955, he established the Juan March Foundation to support the arts and music. He was married with Leonor Servera (1857-1957), they had two children Juan March Servera (Palma de Mallorca 1906-Madrid 1973) and Bartolome March (Palma de Mallorca 1917- Paris 1998)
Alias
Joan March i Ordinas
Birth date
1880-10-04
Birth name
Juan Alberto March Ordinas
Birth year
1880
Death date
1962-03-10
Death year
1962
Individualised pnd number
11883746X
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