Jeronimo Arango

Jerónimo Arango was a Mexican billionaire businessman, who co-founded the Aurrerá supermarket chain with his younger brothers, Manuel and Plácido, in 1958. He was inspired by the discount stores he saw in New York and decided to offer low prices and high volume sales in Mexico. His family's company, Grupo Cifra, became the largest supermarket chain in Mexico, as well as owning restaurants, fashion stores, and other businesses. In 1991, Arango partnered with Wal-Mart, bringing the American retail giant to Mexico and creating Walmex, the largest retailer in Latin America. In 1997, the Arango family sold their majority stake in Grupo Cifra to Wal-Mart for over $2 billion. Arango was one of the richest men in Mexico, with a net worth of $4.3 billion in 2020, according to Forbes. He was also a philanthropist and a patron of the arts. He lived in Los Angeles, California, where he owned a vacation home designed by John Lautner, an icon of space age architecture. He died on April 4, 2020, due to natural causes, at the age of 92.