Don Juanín, as his friends and children affectionately called him, was the noblest person I have ever met. He felt a deep pride for his three children, he lived through us each achievement, small or large, that each one of us was reaching.
My father, perhaps not surprisingly because of the title of his column that he wrote every Friday for the Listín Diario, was a good conversationalist, but at the same time of few words.
From him I learned that the truth lies in simplicity and that you can say just what is necessary and prudent without saying much. When he took me and my brother Juan Enrique to school in the morning, it was common for some radio program to be heard on the way commenting on the vicissitudes of the country’s economic and political panorama. Those short journeys with him greatly influenced me to arouse my curiosity to study economics, a career that I had the privilege of taking with honors in the United States, a wish fulfilled by my father.
But also on those precious journeys there was no lack of listening to a CD, with just three or four songs, one or another ‘merenguística’ melody by Kinito Méndez or our favourite, Bin Laden’s merengue, from the Banda Chula.
Don Juanín carried a musical spirit inside, with a marked preference for classic merengue bands and the ‘rock and roll’ of the Beach Boys.
He shared his love of baseball with us, and we enjoyed many iconic big league games together, not for the faint of heart…as he called them, and which often gave my mother a heart attack when she heard him yell at the away, when a home run of “turn off and let’s go” was launched.
When we didn’t see him, it was because he was working tirelessly for his country in his public functions or helping others in their business or professional pursuits. He was incapable of holding a grudge against anyone, I never heard a single person say anything bad about him or vice versa, even from people he knew did not have his best interest at heart.
Almost defying the laws of probabilities, it was impossible to go out with him and not run into a friend or colleague of his and stop to listen to them tell a tale of adventures or professional projects.
Each person’s success metrics are unique, but if I count the number of people my father touched his life for good, and I see the family he built with my mother, the quality of life he gave his children, but above all the unconditional love that he gave us every second he was in this world, I cannot think of a greater distinction. You are leaving me at a special moment my dear Don Juanín, at the moment that Jesus has called me back to renew the Faith, and continue with my brothers and my mother living your values and honor your passage through this earthly plane, to finally meet again at the right time in the Father’s house, worthy of sharing his glory.
…..The author is Juan Mauricio Guiliani, son of the deceased economist Juan Octavio Guiliani Cury, author of the column En Pocas Palabras, which he published in this newspaper Listín Diario, on Fridays.