Former businessman and Mexican President Vicente Fox Quesada led his country from 2000 to 2006, after rising to the top of Coca-Cola’s business in Mexico and a term as governor of his home state of Guanajuato.
Fox was born in Mexico City in 1942 as the son of a farmer. He went to college in Mexico City, studying business administration, and later earned a management certificate from a Harvard Business School in Mexico.
At 24, Fox took a route supervisor job with Coca-Cola, driving a delivery truck that took him to the remote corners of the country. He rose through the ranks and in 1975 became the head of Coca-Cola in Mexico.
Retiring from Coca-Cola in 1980, Fox returned home and won a seat in the national Congress in 1998, then ran for governor of Guanajuato in 1995 — it was that success Fox says paved the way for his successful run for the Mexican presidency in 2000, when he won the three-way race with 43 percent of the vote.
Fox’s presidency was marked by his casual boots-and-jeans attire, and a steady stream of controversial comments.
In 2005, he told Texas businesspeople, “There is no doubt that Mexicans, filled with dignity, willingness and ability to work, are doing jobs that not even blacks want to do there in the United States” — prompting outrage and demands for apologies from Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson.
The next year in an interview with Telemundo, Fox was caught on a hot mic saying: “Now, I speak freely. Now, I say whatever nonsense. It doesn’t matter anymore. Anyway, I’m already leaving.”
In his autobiography released in 2007, Fox called President George Bush the “cockiest guy I have ever met in my life,” and nicknamed him a “windshield cowboy” over his alleged fear of riding a horse at Fox’s ranch.
Fox also served on the board of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and was a director of the Grupo Fox, a farming and agribusiness company that also made footwear and cowboy boots.
Herald wire services contributed to this report.
