Dardo Rocha
| Dardo Rocha | |
|---|---|
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| Rector of the University of La Plata | |
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In office 1897 – 1905 |
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| Preceded by | post created |
| Succeeded by | Joaquín V. González |
| Governor of Buenos Aires | |
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In office May 1, 1881 – May 1, 1884 |
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| Preceded by | Juan José Romero |
| Succeeded by | Carlos Alfredo D'Amico |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 1, 1838 Buenos Aires |
| Died | September 6, 1921 (aged 83) Buenos Aires |
| Political party | National Autonomist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Paula Arana |
| Occupation | Lawyer and academic |
Dardo Rocha (September 1, 1838 – September 6, 1921) was an Argentine naval officer, lawyer and politician best known as the founder of the city of La Plata and of the University of La Plata.
Juan José Dardo Rocha was born to Juana Arana and Colonel Juan José Rocha in Buenos Aires in 1838; his father was a noted opponent of Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas, and fought with Giuseppe Garibaldi and Juan Lavalle against the Buenos Aires strongman. Rocha was invited by his father as a Freemason initiate in 1858, while he studied Law at the University of Buenos Aires. He, however, interrupted his studies to enlist as a naval cadet in 1859 and fought in the Battle of Pavón, an 1861 encounter resulting in the unification of the Province of Buenos Aires into the Argentine Republic. He graduated with a Law Degree in 1863, but remained in the Argentine Navy during the Paraguayan War and was critically wounded during the 1866 Battle of Curupaity. He returned to civilian life as a lawyer and in 1873 married Paula Arana, with whom he had five children.
Invited to take part in the 1870 Constitutional Reform Convention of the Province of Buenos Aires, he was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies (the Lower House of Congress) in 1873 and to the Argentine Senate in 1874. He became a leading member in the Senate of Julio Roca's National Autonomist Party, to whose platform the federalization of Buenos Aires was central. A prominent proponent of this policy in Congress, he also earned plaudits for his work to regulate commerce along the contraband-laden Bermejo River bordering Paraguay, for the enactment of the nation's first patent laws, and for his support of protectionism for the nation's small but growing industrial sector.
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