Andrés Donoso

Andrés Donoso Larraín (Santiago, 21 November 1927 – ibid., 13 March 2005) was a Chilean engineer, businessman and politician, member of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). He served as Minister of Housing and Urbanism during the final part of the administration of president Eduardo Frei Montalva, from 1968 to 1970.

Family and education

He was born in Santiago on 21 November 1927, the son of Julio Donoso Donoso and Margarita Larraín Ortúzar. He studied at the Saint George's College in the capital.

He married Gracia Saint Huneeus, with whom he had six children.

Public career

In 1945 he joined the Falange Nacional (FN), a political group that later became the Christian Democratic Party in 1957.

Together with his friends Domingo Santa María Santa Cruz and Sergio Ossa, future cabinet colleagues, he founded the engineering company Sigdo Koppers in 1960, where he became general manager and director of engineering and construction.

On 9 October 1968, he was appointed by president Eduardo Frei Montalva as Minister of Housing and Urbanism, a post he held until the end of the administration on 3 November 1970. He was the third minister of Housing in Chilean history, after Modesto Collados (1965–1966) and Juan Hamilton (1966–1968).

In the business world he served as director of the dairy company Dos Álamos S.A., and as president of the Chilean charity Fundación Mi Casa.

He died in Santiago on 13 March 2005, aged 77.