René García Valenzuela
René García Valenzuela (1 January 1903 – 16 March 1993) was a Chilean politician who served as a minister.
He served as Minister of Health, Welfare and Social Assistance during the vice presidencies of Alfredo Duhalde Vásquez and Juan Antonio Iribarren Cabezas. He was also a Freemason, serving as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Chile from 1944 to 1947 and again from 1969 to 1974.
Family and education
He was born in Santiago on 1 January 1903, the second of five children of physician Adeodato García, who served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Chile from June to September 1924, and Zulema Valenzuela Basterrica.
He completed his primary education at the German School of Santiago and his secondary education at the Liceo de Aplicación. He then studied at the University of Chile, graduating as a physician and surgeon in 1929 with the thesis Estudio clínico y parasitológico de la malaria experimental, which received the highest distinction.
He married Adriana López García, with whom he had two daughters, Paulina and Ximena.
Political career
García began his professional career as an assistant in general chemistry and later served as head of practical training under professor Juan Noé Crevani. He subsequently worked as a physician and head of the Disability Office of the Caja del Seguro Obrero (now the Instituto de Previsión Social). He later served as chief assistant of services and section head at San José Hospital, eventually becoming director of the institution. He also served as director of the Hospital Psiquiátrico El Peral and as a member of the Central Board of Public Welfare.
A member of the Radical Party (PR), García was appointed Minister of Health, Welfare and Social Assistance by Vice President Alfredo Duhalde Vásquez on 6 September 1946. He remained in office during the subsequent vice presidency of Juan Antonio Iribarren Cabezas until 3 November of that year, when the interim administration ended.
In 1947, he became director-general of the Directorate General of Public Welfare and Social Assistance. He later served as secretary and treasurer of the Fourth Pan-American Congress on Tuberculosis. He was also a board member of the Chilean Association of Social Assistance, a director of the Chilean Society of Phthisiology and the Sociedad Constructora de Establecimientos Hospitalarios S.A., and the first president of the Colegio Médico de Chile from 1949 to 1950. He was also a member of the Medical Association of Chile, a corresponding member of the Society of Phthisiology of Argentina, and a member of Rotary.
Freemasonry
Alongside his professional and political activities, García was active in Freemasonry. He was initiated on 17 November 1922 in the "Unión Fraternal" Lodge No. 1 in Santiago. Within the lodge, he was elected Worshipful Master for the 1958–1959 term, leaving the position in August 1959. In 1938, he joined the "Hermes" Lodge No. 52 in Santiago, where he held the offices of orator and Worshipful Master. During this period, he also served on the governing council under Grand Master Hermógenes del Canto Aguirre.
In May 1944, García was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Chile, resigning for health reasons on 15 October 1947. On 8 October 1953, following the resignation of Grand Master Orestes Frödden Lorenzen, his successor, García temporarily assumed the position. In 1969, he was again elected Grand Master, serving from 1969 to 1974.
García died in Santiago on 16 March 1993, at the age of 90.