Javier de la Rosa was definitely one of my best friends. This is my second friend that has departed from this world, and I hope to find him, further on, in heaven.
The first was Eduardo Manrique Trujillo whom I knew for fifty years, which confirms my old age, and Javier whom I knew for thirty five years during which we saw each other every year even though he was a Spaniard, born in Palma de Mallorca, and I am Ecuadorian.
Before I begin my speech, I express my condolences to his family, to his mother Alicia Maura de la Rosa, to Borja de la Rosa, his dearly beloved brother who accompanied him during surgery in the United States and then in the company of his family in Palma de Mallorca up until his final moments.
I thank Borja because, following Javier’s instructions, he kept me informed as to his post-surgical progress. He did so in such a way that I am moved to continue my friendship with Javier through Borja from now on.
I also extend my condolences to his brother Alvaro, his sister in-law Angeles Villalba, his nephews Alvaro de la Rosa and Santiago de la Rosa, who are the sons of Alvaro de la Rosa and Angeles Villalba as well as Alicia de la Rosa, daughter of Borja.
Javier, as the song says, was the man of a million friends. We all loved him and I am going to take the liberty to just extend my condolences to a small list of people I have drawn up, quite small as compared with the one million friends he had. We all loved him and I extend my condolences to: Ludovico Del Balso, Eduardo Marquez, Ruggiero Magnoni, Ramona Celigson Bass, Willy Cavendish, Johann Ruppert, Nicolas Vallejo Najera, Jack Gelardin, Frank Gelardin, Ramon Macron, Herdrick Teneus, Desire Teneus, Nicolo Dubini, Alfonso Martinez, Pedro Baeza, and Jose Luis Muguiro.
He also made friends in Ecuador and many of them are here, so my condolences go to Pablo Martinez, Ivette Ruiz, Omar Quintana, Jorge Barreda, Maria Lola de Barreda, Esther Machiavelo, Roberto Ponce, Eduardo Peña, Soledad Plaza de Peña, Antonio Arosemena, Taylor Olson and all those who knew him during his lifetime.
I want to tell you he was a man I admired very much. He had an excellent life, with outstanding scholastic results which culminated with a master degree from Columbia University in the eighties. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the beginning of the eighties, when we became best friends.
He successfully obtained his master degree at one of the most demanding universities in the United States and around the world. He then turned to stock market investments in both the United States and Japan. He predicted the stock market crash in Japan, and had great success with the investment he made, based on this prediction, which rendered very good financial results.
He was also founding member of the Board of Directors of Banco del Litoral in Ecuador and worked for Grupo Noboa for some time. Everything he did, he did well, with commitment, leaving behind a solid, first-rate legacy.
He was one of the most generous persons I have known. Always attentive to everything when I went to Ibiza in the 80´s, he made his yacht available, sailor and all. He was in Palma de Mallorca far away, over one day sailing distance to Ibiza, and he did so with complete generosity and selflessness. He was that way in everything. He would invite me to every party he was invited to in New York. He would invite me and tell the homeowners to invite me and in this manner introduced me to the best families in New York and over the world.
Just after being operated last year, a few months ago at the Mayo Clinic in September, he came to visit me at our family home outside New York City and stayed for several days. These were the last days I would see him alive.
He then had the courtesy, generosity and affection to call me fifteen days ago to tell me that they had to operate on him again and that the doctors had given him very few days to live and very slim chances of surviving the operation, a chance however he had to take. Once out, he remained under sedation the whole time by anesthesia, which is when Borja kept me informed day to day. His beloved brother and my cherished friend did not die from the operation but rather from a blood clot in the brain which is quite common, according to Annabella, my wife who is a doctor. I was informed to the minute right up to the end.
It has been a very touching time for me so news of this mass my family and I are holding and this speech will circulate all over the world. I ask forgiveness for failing to mention the million friends who admired and loved him and whose names I couldn´t give within this single speech. However I extend my condolences to you, to Spain and the entire world. To you Javier soon enough we will see each other in heaven.
May God bless you all. Thank you.