Jose Conrado Benitez, former Marcos government minister, and the first male president of family-owned Philippine Women’s University, died on Sep 13 at the age of 71.
Benitez went to Ateneo de Manila for his undergraduate studies and Stanford University for his MA and PhD. His portfolio in the Marcos administration focused on housing.
He was deputy minister of the Ministry of Human Settlements, deputy secretary general fo the Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran, and president of Bliss Development Corporation, the mass-housing project of Imelda Marcos.
During his term at PWU, he introduced on-line distance education and continuing education to the university In 2012.
In 2014, after a kidney transplant four years earlier, Benitez joined his daughter Jana in an art exhibition at the Ayala Museum.
He is the father of Congressman Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez, (3rd District Negros Occidental) and Francisco ‘Kiko’ Benitez, current president of PWU.
A mass will be held at 7pm today in Makati at Sanctuario de San Antonio’s Capilla del Francisco.
