Josep Argelaguet he died yesterday at the age of 86. Businessman, inventor, employer leader, passionate conversationalist, lover of fishing and defender of different causes, Argelaguet left his mark on those who treated him over the years. Born in Barcelona in a family linked to the furniture sector, he studied Industrial Expertise and founded his own company –Springs and Springs Barcino SA– which would end up moving to water lily l’any 1976.
In a tribute event held a few years ago a Girona, Pius Pujades he explained the handicap he must have had arriving, at the age of 40, in a city that was very closed at the time like Girona: “And you, what family are you from?” Argelaguet was told. That day, Argelaguet recalled his beginnings as an entrepreneur and recalled some of the keys to his success: “working, doing it ethically, and being generous. We need generous entrepreneurs who, in addition to making money, also let others make money.”
His company grew and Argelaguet became involved in the world of business associations, first in his guild (Fegmetall), from which he made the leap to provincial and Catalan institutions. Thus, he was vice president of the Chamber of Commerce between 1991 and 1995, member of the executive of theMultisectoral Association of Exporters of Cataloniaand president of the Federation of Business Organizations of Girona (FOEG) between 1995 and 1999. In this area, he contributed to consolidating employers and giving it a greater associative presence and an institutional and training deployment, stand out from the FOEG.
Argelaguet did not stay in office forever. He always defended the ethical side of the company and entrepreneurs, and its relationship with consumers. That is why he actively participated in the foundation ofOrganization of Consumers and Users of Catalonia (OCUC). With an extraordinary ingenuity, Argelaguet was also a renowned inventor. He had several patents, and was awarded in different fairs and contests in the sector, both a Spain as in United States. One of the best known was the RodaFlex (a wheel with built-in suspension), which he developed after he retired.
Along with his daughter, he also launched a company to help inventors and innovators move forward with their projects, which earned him recognition from theAssociation of Young Entrepreneurs of Girona. “An idea can come to you in unthinkable places and at the least expected moments. It is not subject to timetables, conventions or ages. They are rebellious, they don’t ask for permission and they come when they come: by train, by car, walking, waiting in a doctor’s consultation, watching TV or even sleeping”, he explained a few years ago in an interview.
Argelaguet will have died without seeing how Catalonia establishes one Inventor’s Daywhich always defended that it should be linked to the fig tree Narcís Monturiol. That is why he proposed that it be September 28 (Monturiol’s date of birth) or June 28 (launch date of his first submarine, theIctineus Ial Port of Barcelona). The ceremony in his memory will be held this Saturday at half past twelve in the mortuary of memory in Girona