Alfonso “Alfy” Fanjul Jr., the Cuban-born sugar billionaire and longtime Palm Beach businessman and philanthropist, died Aug. 3 at 89, the Palm Beach Daily News has confirmed.
As a longtime leader of Florida Crystals Corp., Mr. Fanjul helped shape Florida’s sugar industry for generations, while leaving a lasting mark on Palm Beach and Palm Beach County through his civic and charitable work.
His charitable gifts extended to numerous local, national and international causes, including Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach and the University of Miami.
Mr. Fanjul’s leadership in the sugar industry alongside his brother, fellow Palm Beach resident José “Pepe” Fanjul, earned a 2018 induction into the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame.
The brothers had fled Cuba in 1959 as Fidel Castro rose to power and Castro’s communist party seized assets, including those of the Fanjul family. Together, the brothers rebuilt their sugar empire from the ground up in Palm Beach County.
“The responsibility we had was enormous,” Mr. Fanjul previously told The Palm Beach Post. “You have to feed yourself also. We had to be careful not to lose the money. We were playing with the cookie jars.”
Their first 4,000-acre sugarcane crop yielded 10,500 tons of raw sugar. Florida Crystals now farms more than 190,000 acres in Florida, according to the company’s website. The company’s holdings include ASR Group Inc., which owns and produces the brands Domino Sugar, Tate & Lyle, C&H Sugar, Redpath Sugar, Sidul, Lyle’s Golden Syrup, Whitworths Sugar and Tellus.
“As we reflect on a life truly well-lived, we join with the many who mourn the passing of Alfonso ‘Alfy’ Fanjul,” said Ellen T. Wayne, CEO of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach. While many people know of Florida Crystals, Catholic Charities “were blessed to know and witness first-hand the generosity of the family behind the brand.
“Alfonso helped to set the standard of compassion and extraordinary philanthropy creating a pathway for hope, dignity and opportunity for thousands of vulnerable individuals within our community and beyond,” Wayne said. “More than a donor, he was a man of faith and truly realized what is meant to care for one’s neighbors.”
Alex Ives, a member of Palm Beach’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, said he got to know Mr. Fanjul through his work as an usher at the Basilica of St. Edward and through charity events, describing him as a man of “gentlemanly demeanor, elegance and gravitas.”
“I suspect when people referred to Palm Beach as the American Riviera, he was the type of man that gave our community such mores, manners, refinement and taste,” Ives said.
This story will be updated.
Palm Beach Daily News staff writer Kristina Webb contributed to this report.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Alfonso ‘Alfy’ Fanjul, Palm Beach sugar billionaire, dies at 89
Reporting by Jodie Wagner, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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By Jodie Wagner, Palm Beach Daily News | USA TODAY Network
