Leonardo Farkas (20 March 1967-) is a Chilean philanthropist who was one of the potential presidential candidates for the 2009 elections.
Biography[]
Leonardo Farkas was born on 20 March 1967 to a Hungarian Jewish family that left Hungary for Chile in 1939. He studied commercial engineering at the University of Santiago and worked in Caribbean cruising companies and as a piano player in the United States until his father died, and he returned to Chile to take over his family's mining business. He became a famous philanthropist, fundraising for handicapped children, and he gave $10,000 checks to each of the 33 rescued men in the "Chilean mining accident" of 2010. He also donated a copy of the Torah to the "March of the Living" Holocaust remembrance movement.
Farkas was one of the potential presidential candidates for the 2009 elections, and was seen as a populist who was very critical of the Chilean upper class, whom he claimed didn't do enough to mitigate social problems. He promised that he would give everyone in Chile a house if he was elected as president, and while he gained harsh criticism from business peers and local politicians, he was loved by the people.