Name Armando Gnecco Died September 14, 2010 | Preceded by Jose Mejia Salazar Spouse Jean Kutschbach Children Cristian Samper | |
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Preceded by Enrique Penalosa Camargo Succeeded by Javier Emilio Valderrama Similar People Cristian Samper, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Andrew Haswell Green | ||
Succeeded by Enrique Blair Fabris | ||
Armando Samper Gnecco (9 April 1920 – 14 September 2010) was a Colombian agronomist and engineer. He served as Minister of Agriculture of Colombia, was a founding member and first Director of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, General Director of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (1960–1966), Dean of Jorge Tadeo Lozano University (1971),President of the National Corporation for Forest Research and Development of Colombia, CONIF (1974–1978), and President of the Executive Board and General Director of the Colombian Sugarcane Research Center, Cenicaña (1978–1990).
He finished his secondary studies at the Gimnasio Moderno in Bogotá then moved to the United States to attend University of Maryland, College Park. From there he transferred to Cornell University where he graduated in 1943 with a B.Sc. in Agricultural Economy.
Personal life
Armando was born on 9 April 1920 in Bogotá to Daniel Samper Ortega and María Amalia Gnecco Fallón. He married on 26 July 1945 to Jean Kutschbach, whom he met during his studies in Cornell University, and with whom he had four children, Marta, Belén, Mario, and Cristián.