Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-04-21
Paiino, Tin Magnaie
Who Rose From Poor
Store Clerk, Dies
BY Tho Assoeiossd Pres.

BUENOs AIRES, April 2l.-
Simon /. .Patino, peasant-born
Bolivian clerk, who in mid-life be-
came world famed tin magnate
reputedly worth $500 ,0OO, 600. died
here yesterday In his hotel suite
Of general exhaustion attributed
to old age.
The Bolivian Embassy, where his.
body was placed In state, gave Mr..
Patino's age as Sc, although
biographical records indicated he
was 81.
Mr.. Patino, who was born In
Cachabamba, Bolivia, was a $35-
a-month store clerk in 1905 when
miner came into the store for
grubstake. Mr.. Patino guaranteed
the miners bill In return for a
mortgage on the mine.
The holding became the lucra-.
tive Negra Mine and the former
clerk quickly staked other claims.
The growing canning and automo-
bile industry had greatly increased
the world demand for tin, and Mr..
Patino was soon extremely wealthy.
Forced to leave Bolivia's rarified
mountain atmosphere in 1920 for his
health, Mr.. Patino in the ensuing
two decades established name in
Europe as lavish spender.
Surviving are his widow, two sons
and two daughters.
Produced 1876 of World Output.
Tin in the Bolivian Andes turned
to gold in the hands of Mr.. Patino.
He found tin In prodigious quanti-
ties, piled mine upon mine until he
produced Is per cent Of the world
supply of the metal.
He built railroads to carry his ore
to the sea and founded banks to
finance his operations. When the
World War began, Britain granted
him huge credits to assure itself q
wartime tin supply. The war sky
rocketed his riches. In 1924, with
the National Lead Co., he or
ganized in the United States a
500, 000,000 corporation the PatinoI
Mine and Enterprises, Consolidated,
to enable further expansion of his
interests. He bought his own smell
tiers at Bootle, England, in 1929, to
assure market, and even invaded
the Malayan holdings of his Dutch
rivals.
Served as Bolivian Envoy.
He made himself Bolivian min
lister at Madrid, then Paris. He gave
a daughter in marriage to a Span
lsh marquis, a son to a Bourbon
princess.
From Cochabamba, where he was
born, to the Riviera and Sicily he
strewed palaces and villas over sites
that caught his fancy. After 1915
he lived mostly in Paris, In man.
sion on the Avenue Foch where he
turned the principal salon into the
likeness of a Moorish harem.
Doctors warned him that he must
shun the rare air of the two-mile-
high Bolivian plateau where he had
cleaned his fortune, and after he
collapsed in La Paz hotel in 1920.
When Mr.. Patino was 80 he was
married by proxy to Alvina Rodri-
guez, comely 15-year -old daughter
of a humble Oruro family. They
had five children.
Rene, weakened in boyhood by a
disease akin to smallpox, lived an
invalid's life in a European santa
rum after 1924. Antenor, second
son, became his fathers business
colleague and was married in 1881
to the Princess Cristina de Bourbon,
with King Alfonso and Queen Vic
toria sponsoring the couple a week
before the overthrow of the Spanish
monarchy. Graciela married Ortiz
Linares. rich Bolivian industrialist
and Patino ally. Elena became the
bride of the Marquis del Merito.
chamberlain of the Spanish court,
and 81 500 900 dowry was reported
to have been set aside for the hus-
band chosen by Mia.