Founders
Mr. José Luis «Pepín» Corripio Estrada and Mrs. Ana María Alonso.
Mr José Luis “Pepín” Corripio Estrada was born in the village of Arroes, Villaviciosa, Asturias, on 12 March 1934. He was the only child of Sara Estrada and Manuel Corripio García, both of Asturian origin.
At the age of four, Pepín arrived in Santo Domingo in 1938 with his mother and his aunt and uncle, Ramón and Leonor. His father had arrived in the Dominican Republic two years earlier, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
As he has recalled on several occasions, when he left Arroes at such a young age, he asked his grandmother and his aunt Jesusa not to let him go. Perhaps, as he later reflected, it was “a premonition that I would never forget this place”.
He completed his primary and secondary education at Colegio Dominicano de La Salle in Santo Domingo, where he served as editor of the school’s monthly newspaper and graduated in 1951.
After joining the businesses established by his father, Pepín Corripio began diversifying and expanding the family business in the early 1960s.
On 16 August 1963, Pepín Corripio married Ana María Alonso, an Asturian from Piloña, at the Holy Cave of Covadonga in Asturias. She was the daughter of Alfredo Alonso and Lucía García, who were also both Asturian. They had four children: Manuel, José Alfredo, Lucía and Ana, all of whom, like their parents, are involved in the Foundation’s work.
Throughout his business career, he has never forgotten his homeland in Villaviciosa or his native Arroes, to which he returns every year and where he still maintains his family home.
This enduring connection to his roots is reflected in his steadfast commitment to the needs of his community:
“I am proud to say that I am Mariñán. You can always count on me and on our family. We still feel that we are part of Arroes. And so, among the many things we are grateful for in this life, you are at the very top of that list.”
Manuel Corripio García and Sara Estrada Corripio de Corripio
