Carlos Fuente Sr. Dies

Carlos Arturo Fuente Sr. has passed away at 81.

Fuente led the company for much of the last six decades. Born in Tampa, he was the younger son to company founder Arturo Fuente. In 1958, he was sold ownership of the company’s business for $1 and led it through the Cuban embargo shortly thereafter, moving the factory from the U.S. to other countries including Nicaragua and Honduras before eventually settling on the Dominican Republic.

As a child he survived a diagnosis of polio. He and his brother Arturo Oscar were said to roll 50 cigars per day for their father’s fledgling cigar operation in Tampa.

In 1953, he married Anna Louisa Lopez, who passed away last year. Together, they had three children: Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr., Cynthia Fuente Suarez and Richard Fuente.

After moving to the Dominican Republic, the company began expansion. The 1980s saw the company begin manufacturing cigars for Ashton while adding its own Arturo Fuente Hemingway cigars.

In 1986, the company introduced Don Carlos, the blend of Carlos Fuente Sr.

The 1990s saw the development of Fuente Fuente OpusX, the first Dominican puro. Last year, the company introduced two cigars in honor of his 80th birthday.

He is survived by his three children.