Doña Luz Bringas y Robles
She was born in Puebla on 17 May 1857 to Luz Robles and Miguel Bringas, who had three more children: Miguel, Joaquín and Ángela. Luz was the youngest child of the couple. Miguel, Luz's father, was born into a family that made a substantial fortune in Veracruz. In the mid-19th century, Miguel and his brother José María went into the tobacco business, which increased the family fortune to the dimensions that later gave Luz the reputation of being one of the richest women in Mexico. After the death of their parents and brother Miguel, sisters Angela and Luz inherited the fortune and the business. For many years, both showed great ability and diligence in managing the family assets and business. In 1915, on Angela's death, Luz became the universal heiress of the family's assets and in 1935 she decided to donate them to a foundation for the care of children and the elderly. At that time, the Luz Bringas y Robles I.A.P. Foundation was established. Eleven years after the creation of the institution, in February 1946, Doña Luz Bringas died in Wandsworth, London, England at the age of 89.
Ms María de los Ángeles Haghenbeck y de la Lama
She was born on 22 August 1906 in the old neighbourhood of Tacubaya in Mexico City. She was the youngest child of the marriage of Agustín Haghenbeck San Román and Guadalupe de la Lama Molinos del Campo, both Mexican. Her parents should have married in Mexico at the end of the 19th century, however, given the situation generated by the Mexican Revolution movement, and while still a child, María de los Ángeles left with her parents and siblings for Spain where they remained from 1914 to 1917. Shortly after her return, and after the death of her husband, Guadalupe de la Lama dedicated her time to the administration of the family's assets, which she later inherited from her children. María de los Ángeles did not marry and spent her time attending to activities for the benefit of others. She was a co-operating member of the Red Cross and later studied nursing at the Red Cross Clinical School of Nursing, from which she graduated in March 1951. Faithful to her philanthropic nature, in 1959 she set her intention to establish a Foundation dedicated to assistance, which two years later would give shape to the Foundation that will bear her name, whose main objective was the care of children and the elderly in precarious situations. María de los Ángeles Haghenbeck died in June 1959 in Mexico City.
Don Ignacio Medina Lima
Born in Mexico City on 19 January 1905, son of Don Ignacio Medina Ruiz and Jacinta Lima de Medina. He graduated from the National School of Jurisprudence, now the Faculty of Law of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Faithful to his vocation for the teaching of Law, from 1935 he was a full professor of "Procedural and Civil Law" and "General Theory of Process", as well as a professor in other seminars. He taught at the National Autonomous University of Mexico at the National Preparatory School and the Escuela Libre de Derecho. He was a pioneer in the "General Theory of Procedural Law in Mexico" and dedicated a large part of his career to research in this field, which led him to found the Mexican Institute of Procedural Law in 1958. His passion for law was always accompanied by his strong social convictions which, towards the end of his life, led him to donate his assets to the creation of a welfare institution, the Fundación Ignacio Medina Lima, I.A.P., established in 1994, which for many years operated a home for the elderly in the municipality of Coyoacán. Through the Junta de Asistencia Privada (JAP), the Fundación Bringas-Haghenbeck, I.A.P. accepted the challenge of sharing its administrative expertise with the Fundación Ignacio Medina Lima, I.A.P., to help it restore its services, with which it merged in 2007.
Mr Theodore Gildred
Born in the United States in 1900, he became an important figure in Mexican civil engineering throughout his life. In 1929, forced by the economic circumstances of his country, Don Teodoro was obliged to move to Mexico City where he later devoted his work to real estate development. Over the years, and with his family now living in Mexico, the amount of real estate owned by the family grew exponentially, while Don Teodoro began his urban development work in various parts of the city, but especially in the well-known Lindavista neighbourhood in the north of the city. Don Teodoro Gildred dedicated much of his time to assisting the residents of a home for the elderly located in the Azcapotzalco district. In February 1963 he created the Foundation that bears his name, which mainly provides assistance to the elderly and street children, educational scholarships and financial aid to people in need. In 1980 the Foundation became the Teodoro Gildred Association whose Board of Trustees established the Casa Hogar Teodoro Gildred which is currently operated by the Bringas-Haghenbeck Foundation, I.A.P.
Doña Luisa García-Conde Viuda de Cosío
She was born in Mexico City and was the daughter of Don Pedro García-Conde Vidal de Lorca and María Loreto García-Conde Maneiro. She married Don Agustín González de Cosío on 25 May 1871 in La Candelaria in the old Tacubaya district of Mexico City. The Asilo Agustín González de Cosío was founded in 1915, thanks to the generosity of Doña Luisa González who asked only that the home for the elderly be named after her "unforgettable husband Agustín González de Cosío so that his memory may be remembered and as a living testimony of the immense gratitude that I keep for him and of the happiness that he had to give me with such delicacy", in a clear expression of his feelings and wishes contained in his idea "that the poor should receive the usufruct of his goods and those that would be left over after covering the various bequests that he sent"; This idea being perfectly in line with the provisions of the law of private charity in force for the best execution of the task conferred on them by it. The Asilo Agustín González de Cosío was established in a solid 17th century building with gardens, chapel, library, music and rest rooms on a little more than 9,000 square metres, in the Popotla area of Mexico City, and became affiliated in 1921 to the Junta de Asistencia Privada. In order to collaborate in the restoration and improvement of its services, some members of the Board of Trustees of the Fundación Bringas-Haghenbeck, I.A.P. took on the responsibility of carrying out the founding will of Doña María Luisa, merging the institution with the one named after her beloved husband in 2017.
