In Memoriam

Mr José María Arias Mosquera, chairman of the Barrié Foundation since 2009, passed away in Madrid on 11 December 2023. With his death, the Foundation has lost not only a chairman who absolutely identified with its purposes and paid attention to its evolution until his last days, but also part of its living memory, which was essential in shaping all of its programmes.

The third chairman of the Barrié Foundation was designated by Mrs Carmela Arias y Díaz de Rábago, who in turn had been designated by its founder, Mr Pedro Barrié de la Maza, as the best guarantee of fulfilment of the Foundation’s purposes. With that appointment, Carmela Arias entrusted him with the task of lending continuity to the legacy and values of an institution deeply rooted in Galicia’s history and with a critical role in the creation of educational infrastructures, the preservation of folklore, the promotion of studies and research, archaeology and art cataloguing, or historiographical renewal.

Fully aware of the responsibility he was assuming, José María Arias embarked upon a strategic reorganisation process, charting the course towards the present-day Foundation. With his characteristic humility, perseverance and conviction, he urged us to always look ahead, but without ever forgetting our history: ‘Our task is to adapt to the times to remain faithful to the Foundation’s essence. To put the means that constitute the Foundation’s legacy at the service of Galicia’s development, with education, understood in a broad sense, as the main driving force behind all of our actions’.

This approach was based on a philosophy he defended every day: as a foundation, our duty is to anticipate social demands and offer pioneering solutions that can be transferred or implemented by other entities. ‘The goal is for the impact not only to expand, but to be sustainable in time’. Ever since then, that goal has marked our actions, but also our way of collaborating with the institutions with which the Foundation has historically maintained a close relationship, such as the University of Santiago de Compostela, Mr Arias’ alma mater, whose Social Council he chaired.

His work at the head of the Foundation was an example of dedication and has left us with indelible milestones, such as the restoration project for the Portico of Glory, the modernisation of the scholarship system, or the digitalisation of the Royal Galician Academy’s dictionary and its dissemination through technologies of our time. We cannot forget, either, his efforts in the search for solutions to our society’s structural problems, such as the demographic crisis, the research gap, the financial sustainability of the third sector of social action, or the challenges of the forest sector. All of these were issues that especially concerned him.

The Foundation is profoundly grateful for the overwhelming expressions of condolences and recognition received after his death, and has the firm wish to try to keep the same level of commitment that Mr Arias, just as his predecessors, always maintained with the institution and, through it, with the whole of Galicia.