Mariano Puig Planas Dies at 93

Mariano Puig Planas, former president of the beauty company that bears his name, died on Tuesday. He was 93. Puig is credited with the group’s international expansion. During his career he led the group's move into fragrance and fashion by signing deals with designers such as Paco Rabanne and Carolina Herrera.

Puig is ranked No. 20 in The International Top 30, Happi's annual article on the biggest beauty and home care companies with headquarters outside the US.

The company was founded by Antonio Puig in 1914. By the mid-1950s, his four sons, Antonio, Mariano, Jose Maria and Enrique, joined the family business. Mariano earned a doctorate degree in chemical engineering and was a graduate of the IESE Business School in 1964.

“Beginning in his youth, Mariano Puig stood out for his leadership abilities and a sense for business growth, establishing important ties with the United States, the Caribbean and France,” the company said in a statement.

At the end of the 1950s, he sealed a distribution agreement for the Agua Lavanda Puig fragrance in the US, then the company distributed Max Factor in Spain for more than 15 years. Later, he reached an agreement with Paco Rabanne to create a fragrance in France and international expansion was underway. 

Puig is surivived by four sons, including Puig chairman and chief executive officer Marc Puig, and one daughter.