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Walter B. Etling, Jr., an alumnus of the University of Miami, was a prominent figure in Miami commercial real estate and active community leader in the second half of the twentieth century.

Originally from Nutley, New Jersey, Etling served as an officer in the United State Navy during World War II. He then attended the University of Miami, where he graduated with a degree in economics in 1948. As a student, Etling was president of his sophomore class, an Ibis feature writer, drum major of the University of Miami band, and a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Following graduation, Etling became involved in commercial real estate sales, working for the Allen Morris Company, and later the Keyes Company. In 1958, Etling founded the Walter Etling Company to provide highly specialized commercial real estate services, including sales, property management and leasing, investment consultation, condominium sales and management, site and property acquisitions, and syndicate formation. The company was originally located in the Alfred I. DuPont building in downtown Miami, but in 1974 moved to the Security Trust Company building at 700 Brickell Avenue.

In addition to his real estate activities, Etling served as president of PAEK, S.A., the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in Spain; founding director and secretary-treasurer of the Key Biscayne Savings and Loan Association; and director of the Key Biscayne Bank and Trust Company.

Etling has been an active leader in the community, serving as chairman of the Board of Governors and honorary curator for the Miami Science Museum; vice president of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Americas; vice president of the Economic Society of South Florida; a trustee of Third Century U.S.A.; chairman of the City of Miami Mayor’s Parks Committee; foreman of the Dade County Grand Jury; and a member of the Orange Bowl Committee; Kiwanis International; and the Metropolitan Dade County Community Relations Board. Etling was also nominated for the Dade County Outstanding Citizen’s Award in 1973.

In addition to community service, Etling has been active in service to the University of Miami, serving on the Board of Trustees from 1971 – 1974. He also served as President of the Alumni Association from 1969-1970, and Chairman of the University of Miami Parents Association. He was honored as the Alumnus of the Year in 1971.

Walter Etling married Ann Hull and has two children, Christina and Russell.

Rosario Rexach (1912-2003) was a Cuban exile teacher and author of essays and books on Spanish and Latin American literature and art, particularly that of Cuba. Being of the second generation of Cuban intellectuals of the Republic (1902-1959), Rexach’s research and scholarship focused on foundational literature, that is, her work probed into questions of national identity, often specifically addressing the role of women in the arts and professions. Rexach enjoyed a lengthy publishing career, with her first essay, “Orientación Vocacional de la Mujer en Cuba,” published in the newspaper El Mundo in 1938, and her last monograph, Nuevos estudios sobre Martí, published in 2002 just a year before her death. Other notable works include: El Pensamiento de Varela y la formación de la conciencia cubana (1950); El Carácter de Martí y otros ensayos (1954); Estudios sobre Martí (1985); Dos figuras cubanas y actitud: Estudios sobre Félix Varela y Jorge Mañach (1991); and Estudios sobre Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda (1996). Rexach also penned a novel, Rumbo al punto cierto, in 1979.

As her friend Eduardo Lolo describes, “despite her modest beginning and her status as a woman in a world where women were still second-class citizens,” Rexach acquired a strong academic training at the Normal School for Teachers in Havana and became professionally active in the early 1930s. The graduate assistant and then colleague to national icon and professor at the University of Havana, Jorge Mañach, Rexach was a trailblazer of her time and promoted the professional advancement of women and was involved in innovative pedagogical teaching exercises. As Patricia Pardiñas-Barnes relates in an article that was written using source material contained in this very archive of Rexach’s housed in the Cuban Heritage Collection, Rexach also “belonged to a youthful group who deposed the dictatorship of Machado (1925-30)” (159); this bold commitment to voicing her beliefs would eventually result in her permanent exile from Cuba in 1960. “Taking the school beyond the traditional classrooms would be a constant in Rosario Rexach's efforts in promoting culture,” Lolo writes, her teaching praxis extensively developing at the University of Havana where she was one of the first Cuban women to make use of modern technology in education. Pardiñas-Barnes narrates: “Her voice was heard via CMQ radio waves from 1949 to 1953, where she participated in ‘long-distance learning’ (in today’s pedagogical jargon) at La Universidad del Aire, opening the virtual classroom to as many Cubans as possible to present and discuss national identity concerns and cultural issues. The Universidad del Aire was a cutting-edge educational program created by Jorge Mañach, her mentor and university colleague” (160).

Additionally, Rexach was twice elected President of the prestigious Lyceum de la Habana, “a private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the culture” (Lolo), and a member of the Comisión Cubana de la UNESCO. By 1960, Rexach left Cuba and relocated permanently to New York City because it was believed she was a counterrevolutionary as Patrick Iber relays: “Another member, the professor of sociology Rosario Rexach, left after a Communist student minder – there was one in every university class – denounced her as a counterrevolutionary because her lectures on the French Revolution credited it with having done much to develop systems of modern education … Rexach said that she could have stayed if she had kept her mouth shut, with a good income of $6,000 a year, an air-conditioned house, and three servants.”

Even when in her seventies and eighties, Rexach was “still publishing with the brió of a much younger generation” (Pardiñas-Barnes 163). But in excess of her scholarly and teacherly vigor and the volume of her published works, Rexach will be remembered for her distinct style and flair of writing, best summarized in the words of a friend who knew her voice in life as well as through the many pages she left behind: “Her essayistic prose is literature, even though literature itself is its content. She talks about the art of others through her own art, as if the waves commented on the sea or the cold the snowfall. Form and content go hand in hand to the bottom of the idea and the soul of the text studied, shaping their own soul and idea as a new literary text … it is the case that Rosario Rexach wrote ‘a la Rexach,’ in a formula that is completed when the receiver enjoys both what he receives and the way he receives it” (Lolo).

Augustus Seymour Houghton was born in Palisades, N.Y. on January 3, 1866. He received his preparatory education at Phillips Academy in Massachusetts, was graduated B.A. at Amherst College in 1888, studied law in New Bern, N.C. and was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 1890. He studied law under Elihu Root in New York City and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1891.

Houghton established his own law firm and practiced in New York City until his retirement in 1948. He was a partner in the firm of Holtzman, Wise, Shepard, Houghton, and Kelly, director of the New Jersey Zinc Co.; Pohatcong Hosiery Mills, Inc.; and the Putnam Trust Co., Greenwich, Conn.

Houghton became actively involved in conservation in 1909 when he was elected to serve as a member of the Conservation Committee of the Camp Fire Club of America, a post he held until 1948. From 1915 to 1918, he served as secretary of the New York State Conservation Commission and from 1928 to 1932 he was a member of the Legislative Reforestation Commission. In 1935, New York Governor Herbert Lehman appointed him chairman of the State Conservation Committee that was to decide whether or not to build truck trails in forest preserves. In 1936, he was elected president of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks. He served as director and secretary of the American Game Association. He also served as director of the American Forestry Association, trustee of the American Wildlife Institute, Inc., and was a member of the Society of American Foresters.

Houghton assisted in obtaining a treaty with Great Britain, Russia, Japan, and Canada for the protection of Alaskan fur seals and a treaty with Great Britain and Canada for the protection of migratory birds. He also wrote extensive articles of the preservation of wildlife and conservation.

Augustus S. Houghton resided in Coconut Grove, Florida during the winter months and as a result became actively involved in the restoration of wildlife in the state. In 1942, the Florida State Chamber of Commerce awarded him a gold medal for his efforts. He died on September 25, 1948 while visiting his son in HyŠres, France.

José Antonio Font was a real estate developer who dedicated many years to public service and Cuban exile interests.

Font was born in Havana, Cuba, on December 17, 1947. Between 1969 and 1971, he was personal assistant to José Elias de la Torriente during the organization of the “Plan para la Liberación de Cuba,” also known as the Plan Torriente. From 1971 to 1974, Font served as the national secretary for foreign relations for the student group Agrupación Abdala, helping to establish the Miami and Washington, DC, chapters. He was a founder of what is today known as the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and was the founding vice president of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In 1989 he helped establish the Alianza Democrática Cubana in Washington, DC, and later was a founding director of the Institute for Democracy in Cuba, funded by USAID. He died in Miami in 2015.

Richard A. Kahn (1891-1958), a lawyer and economist, taught economics and business law courses, published numerous articles and held a variety of positions in the United States government. Born in Germany, Kahn studied in Heidelberg and served as counsel for the city government of Ludwigshafen-Rhine. During the 1920s, Kahn became executive director of the Tobacco Association of Mannheim. He later worked as a financial consultant and then as Vice President of the Electric Works Company in Berlin during the 1930s.

A research fellowship from Johns Hopkins University brought Kahn to the United States, where he conducted research and taught at American University and later at the Catholic University of America. Kahn also served as economic advisor to the Railroad Retirement Board, before joining the Office of Price Administration (OPA) during World War II. Kahn represented the fisheries industries, and participated in efforts to settle labor disputes and establish price ceilings for the OPA. He handled appeals cases and corresponded with other government agencies including the War Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

In 1944, Kahn became Chief of the Economic and Cooperative Marketing Section of the Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. Working in the Branch of Commercial Fisheries, Kahn planned and directed economic research, wrote economic reports for the U.S. Congress and government agencies and produced bulletins and pamphlets for the public. Kahn recorded and analyzed investments, cost and consumption statistics and frequently appeared before congressional committees to give reports and represent the interest of commercial fisheries.

Kahn wrote several articles on economics and law published in America and Germany. A member of the Investment Bankers Association and the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, he also participated in the activities of these organizations.

Mirta Ojito was born in Havana, Cuba on February 10, 1964 and was raised in the Santos Suárez neighborhood of Havana. Her parents, Orestes, a truck driver, and Mirta, both hailing from Las Villas, met and were married in the 1950’s as the Revolution began to gain ground. They had not been fans of either Batista or Castro and disliked the subsequent state imposition on their daily lives post-1959. Ojito’s father had several siblings in the U.S. and had long since planned to join them but did not get the chance during the first wave of the Cuban exiles. When Ojito’s parents married in October of 1962, they applied for a visa to the U.S. but it never came through due to the event of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ojito notes in her memoir that during her childhood, many friends and neighbors would leave and no one would hear from them again. She also recalls having teachers and administrators at her school keeping a detailed file on her and her family’s views of the Revolution and participation in revolutionary activities. She recalls also as a teenager working in la escuela al campo, which involved manual labor outdoors in lieu of a classroom education, and her boyfriend being conscripted for the war in Angola.

Ojito came to the United States during the Mariel boatlift on May 10th, 1980, leaving her life in Cuba behind. On April 19th, 1980 the Mariel exodus began. Ojito’s uncle, Oswald, traveled to Cuba in his boat “Major Rafael” to take Ojito’s family to Miami, but the boat ended up breaking down. At that time, he had been in Cuba for 17 days. Luckily, he got another captain, Mike Howell, a Vietnam veteran, to take them on his boat, called the “Mañana.” During the trip, Ojito, her sister and mother became separated from her father and uncle, who ended up on the boat the “Valley Chief.” They finally arrived at her uncle’s house in Hialeah on May 12th. Years later, Ojito sought out Howell for her memoirs to thank him for saving her life and to discover his perspective on the Mariel boatlift. They reunited in New Orleans, 22 years after the life-changing trip from Cuba to Key West.

Ojito finished high school in Miami and then attended Miami Dade College. She went on to earn a degree in 1986 from Florida Atlantic University and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, where she taught as a journalism professor. In 1987, she began working as a reporter for the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald for 9 years. In 1991, Ojito had a chance to interview Fidel Casto outside his hotel room in Guadalajara, Mexico while she was a reporter for the Miami Herald. In January of 1998, Ojito returned to her childhood home, an apartment in Havana, and found many of her family's old belongings still there. She was in Cuba reporting on Pope John Paul II’s historic visit to the island. A story from that trip was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She covered issues of immigration for 15 years as a journalist in Miami and New York, and became known for her coverage of Cuban detainees in federal penitentiaries and stories about human rights in Cuba. In 1987, she interviewed Gustavo Pique, one of the detainees involved in the takeover of the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. In 1996, she started working in the Metro desk of The New York Times, where she covered immigration and other issues.

She has won several major awards for her work, including a 1999 award for best foreign report from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and she shared a 2001 Pulitzer prize for her reporting on race in America. In 2014, she joined NBC News, as the director of Standards for Telemundo. She was also a member of the Telemundo team that won an Emmy for the coverage of Pope Francis's visit to the Americas. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2005, Ojito published her memoir of exile from Cuba, Finding Mañana. She worked on it from 2002 to 2005. She cites that in her memoir she “wanted to tell the story of the first 20 years of the Cuban Revolution and why a people turn around to leave their country and why the United States receives them.” (2005)

In addition to her memoir, in 2013, she published the critically-acclaimed book Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town, about the 2008 murder of an immigrant man. It was a 2014 International Latino Awards Finalist. She also appeared in the 2013 documentary Cubamerican, and produced three documentary films about immigration: Batalla en la Frontera (2015), Cosecha de Miseria (2016), and The Source (2017).

Rolando Moreno is a Cuban director, playwright and theater designer who has adapted and authors numerous plays. His most recent productions include "Si vas a comer espera por Virgilio" and "La retirada de Moscú," performed in Miami in 2011.

Silvio Acosta was a Cuban architect educated at the University of Havana in the early 20th century. He dedicated his life to education, working actively as the President of El Colegio de Arquitectos de la Habana, where he was a distinguished speaker. He was a professor at Havana's La Escuela de Artes y Oficiosfor more than 30 years, and principal of the same for 11. Acosta was also professor of physics and chemistry at the Edison School and the English School, where he had future doctor José "Pepe" Lastra as a student. A man of many interests, Acosta was a member of the Junta de Amillaramiento and President of the National Commision of Archaeology. He had the pleasure of winning architectural competitions and other honors, as well as authoring important articles on architecture and industrial technical education from 1920 until his death in 1961.