I never imagined the moment would come when I would have to write about Juan’s passing: my friend, my confidant, and my guide for 28 years. From that very first meeting, an instant friendship was born.
Juan lived intensely. Every experience, even the hardest ones, gave him a broader and deeper outlook on life. The day before signing a contract with CLS in 1991, he suffered a terrible car accident between Málaga and Madrid. He spent a year in the hospital and another full year recovering, learning to walk and manage again. That trial, far from defeating him, forged his character.
When he recovered, the trust his CEO, Vicente Roldán, had in him materialized with his appointment as Program Director. He married Julia, their son Íñigo was born, Javier was on the way, and they bought a house in a good area of Madrid. When life seemed to be taking a steady course, Juan and Julia accepted the offer to take over the company, and in 1998 they began managing CLS. Juan joined ASEPROCE’s Executive Committee in 1999, brought in by his great friend Juanma Elizalde, inseparable companion in trips, vacations, and hobbies: the endless meals and after-dinner talks, travels, art, and the songs of James Taylor.
New York was his favorite city. There he accompanied his Academic Year group and had tickets to go up the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001. Only his little fondness for getting up early saved him from the attack that changed the history of the world. As they say in baseball, one of his favorite sports: “strike two.” It still wasn’t his time. His children were small, his parents were full of life, and he still had much history to live with Julia.
Juan was brilliant, restless, curious, and an tireless conversationalist. He loved to debate and contradict you until he convinced you—or wore you out. Four years after the scare in New York came the “strike three”: a diagnosis of lymphatic cancer, from which very few at that time survived. But again, it wasn’t his time.
Under his drive, CLS grew and consolidated itself as a reference in academic programs in the U.S. The COVID pandemic affected his lungs, but not even that stopped his determination: the company kept growing until, finally, he accepted a good offer. Juan and Julia sold CLS, closing his professional stage to focus on his family.
He dedicated his last years entirely to Julia and his children, to “leaving everything tied up and well tied up.” Building experiences with them became his priority. He kept promises: in 2018, in Canada, he told me he would return with his family all the way to the coast of Nova Scotia, and he did.
Neither accidents, nor cancer, nor even Bin Laden himself could defeat our friend. He turned 61 in August, but his heart seemed to know he wasn’t born to grow old. He made sure his children—who today follow relentless careers—had their future secured, and left his beloved Julia steering the ship they had built together.
See you later, companion, mentor, and friend. When it’s my turn to cross the Atlantic on a one-way journey, we will meet again. That’s the thing about survivors: they never truly disappear.
Pablo Martínez de Velasco Astray, close friend of Juan and President of ASEPROCE
