Gerardo Budowski
Gerardo Budowski was a German–Venezuelan chess master.
He was born in Berlin into a family loving chess. His mother drew a game with José Raúl Capablanca in his simultaneous exhibition on 30 October 1925 in Berlin. His father had a friendly relationship with Alexander Alekhine who gave chess lessons to the child prodigy in Paris. Budowski left Nazi Germany for France, and then - during World War II - emigrated to Venezuela, where he obtained citizenship. Since 1952, he resided in Costa Rica.
Dr. Budowski graduated in 1948 as an agricultural engineer from the Universidad Central in Caracas, Venezuela. He subsequently pursued a master's degree at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture, located in Turrialba, Costa Rica. In 1962, he obtained his doctoral degree in Forestry from Yale University. He was Director General of IUCN from 1970 to 1976. Since 1980, Dr. Budowski was instrumental in the development of the University for Peace, not only did he start the Environmental programme but he also served in positions such as Interim Rector and Vice-Rector. In 2008, he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus for his vision in the relation between peace and the environment.
He won the Campeón Absoluto de Venezuela title 6-0 by beating Julio García in 1951. He also participated in other championships in Costa Rica in the 1950s.
He won Costa Rican team championship, playing for Turrialba, in 1965.
He represented Venezuela in the Chess Olympiad at Lugano 1968.
Dr. Budowski died of natural causes on October 8, 2014 in San José, Costa Rica.
