Estrada, Alfredo, 2004 April 23

This is a Living History interview with Fred Estrada, class of 1954, conducted by Marilyn Somers on April 23, 2004 at his office in Miami, Florida. The subject of the interview is Mr. Estrada’s life and experiences at Georgia Tech. Mr. Estrada was born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1933. His family moved to Havana when he was ten and he attended a Belen Jesuit School. He always knew he would go to college, and when he decided to go to an engineering school, Tech was the obvious choice because his older brother had gone there. The classes at Tech were fairly easy for his freshman year because he had a good background, but he did not speak English very well. Football was completely new to him; however, it enjoyed the games and all the Tech traditions. He especially enjoyed the Havalanta Games between Atlanta and Havana, her sister city. Mr. Estrada believes in giving back, especially to both of his schools. He remembers Dean Griffin helping him come up with six more hours of credit so that he could graduate. He had a very diverse career after graduating from Tech. After graduation, Mr. Estrada went back to Cuba to work there. He did not like the way Castro was leading the country, so he and his family fled to the United States. He worked in petroleum and petrochemicals, including building and managing two refineries for two different companies. Eventually, he started his own businesses and has ended up in the publishing business. Vista is a very popular bilingual Hispanic magazine and is Mr. Estrada’s only company in the US. He also owns businesses in Puerto Rico and Mexico. He has a wonderful family: a great wife, three successful children, and four grandchildren.