Ángel García Colín died this Saturday. Was for many a professional reference; for others, a loyal and inexhaustible friend; For those who worked at his side, a teacher of life. He was the person who trusted my, who opened the doors of Grupo Prisa to me and taught me, with a unique mix of intuition, generosity and humor, how to navigate the corporate world without losing my humanity. His departure leaves an immense void, but also a luminous legacy that will continue to accompany us.
Ángel was, above all, a great person. He had a natural ability to help others, to spot talent, to build bridges between people who didn’t even know they needed to know each other. He was, without exaggeration, the best public relations person one could imagine: affable, approachable, witty, always attentive to the details that make someone feel seen and valued. He had a gift for connecting worlds, for building trust, for making any conversation seem important.
That extraordinary emotional intelligence, which distinguished him in any environment, was not the result of courses or manuals, but of what he learned naturally in his native León, in his beloved Cistierna. There, among the simplicity, closeness and authenticity of his people, Ángel absorbed a way of being in the world based on respect, listening and warmth. That origin forever marked his way of relating, working and living.
He enjoyed life intensely. He knew the best restaurants, not the most expensive, but the most authentic. He always surprised with an unknown, affordable and extraordinary wine. He was a lifer in the best sense: someone who knew how to appreciate simple pleasures, who celebrated every encounter, who found beauty in the everyday. And, like a good Leonese, he was also a magnificent mus player: quick of mind, intuitive, strategist, capable of reading the table as he read people. In each game he demonstrated that mixture of mischief, elegance and humor that made him unique.
But what really distinguished him was his character: a capacity for empathy that allowed him to be a friend to everyone and support many in difficult times. That same inner strength was what allowed him to fight for years against an illness that, at first, seemed to only last him a few months. He did it with admirable dignity, with a smile that never lost, with a serenity that was disarming. Until the end, he continued organizing, caring, thinking about others. Even when the time came to make difficult decisions, he did so with the same vital elegance that characterized him. As one of his most famous phrases from the “university of life” said: “This topic interests me a lot, keep me out of it.” And, in a way, that’s how he said goodbye: with discretion, with humor, with a lucidity that only those who have lived fully have.
His professional career was as brilliant as it was diverse. He set up a newspaper in Valladolid in just a month, promoted the Group’s regional press, directed the magazines and became commercial director of Prisa. Everywhere he worked, success accompanied him. His management style was based on delegation and absolute trust in his team. He used to say: “If you ask me everything, I’ll have to collect your salary.” And yet, he never left anyone stranded. He knew how to be there when necessary, he knew how to withdraw when it was right, he knew how to teach without imposing himself.
From him I learned when to be in the front row and when to be in the back, how to read a room, how to really listen, how to be a better professional and, above all, a better person. Those of us who knew him will forever keep his phrases, his gestures, his unique way of understanding life.
But above all, the most important thing for Ángel was always his family: Montse and Guillermo. The support of both, their love and their presence They were his strength in the hardest moments. He leaves them a legacy of immense pride and the example of a life enjoyed, with authenticity, courage and affection.
Today, when we accept his absence, we understand that, as he himself would have said, the time had come to stay away. That was Ángel García Colín: discreet, brilliant, generous, unforgettable.