Roberto Sanchez Vilella
| Roberto Sánchez Vilella | |
|---|---|
Governor of Puerto Rico Roberto Sánchez Vilella in 1958
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| 2nd Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico | |
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In office January 2, 1965 – January 2, 1969 |
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| Preceded by | Luis Muñoz Marín |
| Succeeded by | Luis A. Ferré |
| 1st Secretary of State of Puerto Rico | |
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In office January 2, 1953 – January 2, 1965 |
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| Governor | Luis Muñoz Marín |
| Succeeded by | Carlos J. Lastra |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
February 19, 1913 Mayagüez, Puerto Rico |
| Died | March 24, 1997 (aged 84) San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Political party |
Popular Democratic Party Democratic Party Partido del Pueblo (Puerto Rico) |
| Spouse(s) |
Conchita Dapena (1936-1967) Jeannette Ramos (1967-1997) |
| Children | Roberto Sánchez Ramos |
| Profession | Engineer |
Roberto Sánchez Vilella (February 19, 1913 – March 24, 1997) was the second Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, holding the position from 1965 to 1969. Sánchez Vilella successfully ran for governor in the 1964 elections for the Partido Popular Democrático, after Governor Luis Muñoz Marín did not seek re-election having served four terms as governor.
Sánchez Vilella was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico to Luis Sánchez Frasqueri and Angela Vilella velez and his family moved to Ponce, Puerto Rico when he was five years old. In Ponce he attended elementary and secondary schools, including the Ponce High School. After graduation, he attended Ohio State University where he graduated with a degree in engineering in 1934. As an engineer, in 1941 he was president of the Ponce chapter of the Colegio de Ingenieros y Agrimensores de Puerto Rico, the professional organization covering all engineers and land surveyors in Puerto Rico. He then was a professor for a short time at the University of Puerto Rico.
After a long and distinguished his career as city manager of the city of San Juan, Secretary of Public Works and as the first Secretary of State, Sánchez Vilella was handpicked by Governor Luis Muñoz Marín to run as the PPD's candidate for governor in 1964. Sánchez won the election by a comfortable margin, becoming the second democratically elected governor of the island.
During his tenure, Sánchez Vilella tried to change his party's membership, urging a younger generation to rise in the friends party's organization. It could be argued that Sánchez Vilella was influenced by the youth movement that the island was experiencing countrywide during the 1960s, a period where many social areas in Puerto Rico, including television, music and sports, were being introduced to fresh, younger personalities.
Sánchez Vilella had public marital problems during his term; he divorced his wife, Conchita Dapena, in 1967 and married one of his close assistants, Jeannette Ramos Buonono, the daughter of a former Speaker of the House, Ernesto Ramos Antonini. This marked the first time a governor married while in office. His marital problems were brought to center stage during the 1968 gubernatorial campaign, given the still-conservative Puerto Rican moral values of the time, including the stigmatization of divorce.
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Wikipedia