Agustí Riera i Pau
{{Short description|Spanish physician (1876–1936)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{family name hatnote|Riera|Pau|lang=Catalan}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Agustí Riera i Pau
| image = File:Agustí Riera i Pau 002.jpg
| image_size = 160px
| alt =
| caption = Portrait of Agustí Riera i Pau
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1876|07|02}}
| birth_place = Captaincy General of Cuba
| death_date = {{death date and age|1936|08|27|1876|07|02}}
| death_place = Les Encies, Francoist Spain
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = politician and physician
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| signature=File:Agustí Riera i Pau 003.jpg
}}
Agustí Riera i Pau (July 2, 1876 – August 27, 1936) was a conservative Catalan politician and physician.
Biography
Agustí was the second child of the doctor Narciso Riera Isla, from Vilamarí (Pla de l'Estany) and Crescencia Pau Caulas of Besalu (Garrotxa). His parents emigrated temporarily to Cuba to flee the Third Carlist War. When they returned to Catalonia, Agustí was 8 years old. He had three sisters and two brothers.{{cite journal |last1=Quintana i Riera |first1=Mª Teresa |title=Arenyautes |date=August 25, 2014 |url=http://arenyautes.cat/content/lavi-riera-un-dels-fundadors-de-la-mancomunitat |language=Catalan |accessdate=August 29, 2014}}{{cite web |last1=Quintana i Riera |first1=Mª Teresa |url=http://arenyautes.cat/content/lavi-riera-un-dels-fundadors-de-la-mancomunitat |title=L'avi Riera, un dels fundadors de la Mancomunitat|language=Catalan |accessdate=August 29, 2014}}
Agustí attended primary school at El Collell high school and later at the Institute of Girona, where he met Francesc Cambó, starting a friendship that would last a lifetime. Both were part of the Regionalist League since its founding. He studied medicine at the University of Barcelona, where he graduated on May 30, 1899, with the highest award. In 1903 he married Maria Teresa Trotcha Estalella, the Cuban-born daughter of Zenon Trotcha, a former banker from Arenys de Mar, who also emigrated to Cuba.{{cite journal |last1=Vila i Simon |first1=Asunción |title=New streets Plan Vineyards |journal=We Talk Sarria |number=49 |date=April–June 2004 |pages=19–20 |url=https://www.yumpu.com/es/document/view/13141384/revista-sarria-49-5-8-04-1334-pagina-1-sarria-de-ter/19 |accessdate=August 29, 2014}} They lived in Barcelona until 1905, when due to the death of his father they moved to Sarria de Ter to take over his father's post as a physician. They had seven children.
Agustí was a member of the Association of Physicians and Biologists in Catalan Language, where he served as deputy member representing the surrounding region. He was elected the deputy provincial leader of Girona for the Regionalist League, and between March 13, 1911, and January 13, 1924, he was president of the Council of Girona. As such, he participated in the creation of the Commonwealth of Catalonia, a body composed of the four Catalan provinces, active between 1914 and 1925. He was appointed director of the Association of Communications and Public Works, position in which he performed effectively, expanding the area's infrastructure. He helped improve the country and local road meshwork and extended the telephone line network.{{cite journal |title=Agustí Riera, the Girona's brain of the Mancomunitat |journal=Journal of Ibiza |date=April 13, 2014 |url=http://www.diaridegirona.cat/opinio/2014/04/13/agusti-riera-cervell-gironi-mancomunitat/665072.html}} He also took part, together with his friend Francesc Cambó, in the commission of the Catalan parliament in Madrid, created in 1918.{{cite web |title=A walk through the streets of Girona, Salt and Sarria de Ter |location=Girona |author=Girona City Council |year=2009 |page=62 |url=http://www.bibgirona.net/salt/col_local/buidats/Guia_Carrers.pdf |language=Catalan |display-authors=etal |access-date=September 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923184430/http://www.bibgirona.net/salt/col_local/buidats/Guia_Carrers.pdf |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}
On January 9, 1921, he chaired the Floral Games in Sarrià de Ter. On May 13, 1923, he was elected senator for the province of Barcelona.{{cite web |title=Riera Y Pau, Agustín |publisher=Senate of Spain |language=Catalan |location=Madrid |year=2014 |url=http://www.senado.es/web/conocersenado/senadohistoria/senado18341923/senadores/fichasenador/index.html?id1=2402 |accessdate=August 29, 2014}} In 1933, as chairman of Catalanist Center, was named vice president of the Governing Council of the Catalan League.
With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (July 18, 1936) he was threatened with death. Cambó offered him the possibility of exile {{mdash}} an offer taken up by many other politicians {{mdash}} but he declined. On August 27, 1936, he was found murdered in a small forest near Les Encies (Olot).
Legacy
Two streets bear his name in Girona (in the Pont Major) and Sarria de Ter.
References
;Notes
{{Reflist|2}}
;Bibliography
- [http://www.galeriametges.cat/galeria-fitxa.php?icod=HFG Agustí Riera i Pau | work=Galeria de Metges Catalans | language=Catalan]
- {{cite book |title=Agustí Riera i Pau |work=The Enciclopèdia.cat |language=Catalan |location=Barcelona |publisher=Catalan Encyclopedia Group |url=http://ves.cat/l92Q |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140830102115/http://ves.cat/l92Q |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 30, 2014 |accessdate=August 29, 2014 }}
- {{cite book |title=Sarria de Ter: the role of history |first1=Josep, Coord |last1=Brugada |location=Girona |publisher=CCG Editions |year=2006 |pages=534 |isbn=8496766012}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Molas |first1=Isidre |title=The elite of the Regionalist League: regionalist minority in the Senate (1902–1923) |language=Spanish |location=Madrid |publisher=Autónoma University of Madrid, Faculty of Law, Department of Political Science and International Relations |year=2003 |page=23 |journal=Estudio/Working Paper, 14/2003 |url=http://ves.cat/l92P }}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- {{cite news |last1=Pla |first1=Josep |title=Open Letter to D. Miguel Villalonga, writer, over e |newspaper=Destination |number=213 |date=August 16, 1941 |page=8 |language=Spanish|url=http://mdc2.cbuc.cat/cdm/ref/collection/destino/id/227334}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Quintana i Riera |first1=Mª Teresa |title=L'avi Riera, un dels fundadors de la Mancomunitat |journal=Arenyautes |date=August 25, 2014 |url=http://arenyautes.cat/content/lavi-riera-un-dels-fundadors-de-la-mancomunitat |language=Catalan |accessdate=August 29, 2014}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Vila i Simon |first1=Assumpció |title=Agustí Riera i Pau, physician and politician. |journal=Sarria de Ter: The Role of History |first2=Josep, Coord. |last2=Brugada |location=Girona |language=Catalan|publisher=CCG Publishing |year=2006 |pages=299–309}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Vila i Simon |first1=Assumpció |language=Spanish |title=New streets Plan Vineyards |journal=We Talk Sarria |number=49 |date=April–June 2004 |pages=19–20 |url=https://www.yumpu.com/es/document/view/13141384/revista-sarria-49-5-8-04-1334-pagina-1-sarria-de-ter/19 |accessdate=August 29, 2014}}
- Xifra i Riera, Ramon. The Catalan Girona for 1,933. Girona: [s. n.] (Imp. Solomon Marquis), 1934 23 p.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agusti Riera i Pau}}
Category:People from Pinar del Río Province
Category:Physicians from Catalonia
Category:People from Pla de l'Estany
Category:People murdered in Spain
Category:Politicians killed in the Spanish Civil War