Funeral for Cuban sugar magnate Alfonso Fanjul is Saturday. Here’s what to know

Local Obituaries admin August 7, 2026 0 Comments

Funeral for Cuban sugar magnate Alfonso Fanjul is Saturday. Here’s what to know

Funeral services for Alfonso “Alfy” Fanjul Jr., the Cuban-born billionaire who fled Fidel Castro’s revolution and rebuilt his family’s sugar fortune in Florida, will be Saturday in Palm Beach.

Fanjul was well-known in Palm Beach society circles and also for his extensive philanthropic work.

Fanjul died Monday at age 89. He had guided his family’s company, Florida Crystals, into one of the nation’s largest privately held sugar and real estate empires and the biggest employer in Palm Beach.

FULL STORY: Cuban-born Alfonso Fanjul, who built a sugar empire in Florida, dies in Palm Beach

Here are key takeaways:

A funeral Mass will be held at the Basilica of St. Edward Catholic Church, 144 N County Rd. in Palm Beach, from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug, 8. The Mass will be followed at 3 p.m. by a graveside service at Hillcrest Memorial Park, 6411 Parker Ave. in West Palm Beach.

For decades, Fanjul served as co-chairman and chief executive of Florida Crystals, which he built with brothers José, Alexander and Andrés after the family fled Cuba in 1959, following Fidel Castro’s revolution. Forbes reported the late Fanjul was worth over $1 billion, with the family business is valued at more than $4 billion.

Fanjul was born in Havana in 1937. The marriage of Fanjul’s parents brought together two Cuban sugar dynasties. The Fanjuls controlled 10 mills in Cuba before Castro seized their holdings. The family fled to Palm Beach and in 1960 established Florida Crystals.

The company grew to include sugar mills, a refinery and ASR Group, which controls Domino Sugar, C&H, Redpath and Tate & Lyle — making it the world’s largest cane sugar refining company.

For years, Florida environmental groups accused the family’s operations south of Lake Okeechobee of contributing phosphorus pollution to the Everglades, while critics questioned labor conditions on Dominican Republic plantations. Florida Crystals rejected those criticisms.

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