Four months after the death of the great businessman and patron Antoni Vila Casas, last September, the board of trustees of the foundation that bears his name, to which the collector entrusted the continuity of his cultural and social legacy, is experiencing an unprecedented crisis, with the resignation of its president, Antonio Sagnier, and three prominent members of its organizational chart.
The resignation of Sagnier, who had been part of the board for 32 years and was the person that Vila Casas appointed to assume the presidency once he was gone, occurred at the last meeting of the governing body, held last Thursday. This resignation was joined by that of President Artur Mas, the lawyer Joan Font Torrent, de Font
The presidency has been assumed by the businessman's widow, Montserrat Pascual Samaranch, who until now was honorary president. The new organizational chart includes the latter's daughter, Montserrat Viladomiu Pascual, the director of Clinical Medicine at the Vall d'Hebron Hospital, Miquel Vilardell; Gloria Bosch, who was artistic director of the Fundación Vila Casas and Carles Puig, all of them as vocalists. Ricardo Rodríguez Vallverde is secretary and Joan Torras is deputy secretary-treasurer.
In a gesture as admirable as it was rare, in 1986 Antoni Vila Casas donated a good part of his assets to the foundation that bears his name, initially dedicated to scientific dissemination issues in the field of health and which, starting in 2000, expanded to the promotion of Catalan contemporary art and the creation of four museum spaces: the Volart exhibition halls and the CanFramis museum in Barcelona, where it has its painting collection; Palau Solterra, in Torroella de Montgrí, dedicated to photography; and Can Mario, in Palafrugell, focused on sculpture.
