RE Log Spring 2019

SPRING 2019 Ransom Everglades LOG 7 Ardila wondered why his old coach was on the field on that December day, and Villano explained that Beverley continued his service to the school as an assistant coach. “He’s ruthless,” Villano said. “He doesn’t expect anything but success.” “If you have the team and the talent,” Ardila said, smiling, “then you have to win.” Villano feigned indignation: “What about learning life lessons?” A new start in Miami Ardila’s family moved to Miami for security reasons in September 1973. His father sought out the Ransom School because he wanted to ensure the best ed- ucation for his son. Ardila, who had pre- viously attended The Columbus School, an independent school in Medellin, won acceptance and entered Ransom as a junior. He immediately joined the soccer and water polo teams. Beverley found Ardila to be smart and committed, so dedicated to sharpening his English that he carried a dictionary everywhere. He also listened earnestly to his English teacher, Dan Leslie Bowden, making a point to stay away from the word “nice” because Mr. Bowden de- spised it, calling it a useless, ineffectual word. “My experience here was fantastic,” Ardila said. “It was very illuminating. It was the ideal place for me… It’s difficult for me to find a difficult moment from my time here – aside from going into exams.” Ardila went on to Harvard and then the University of Miami’s business school, where he met his future wife, Julia I. Zurek, on the first day of classes. The two married, then moved to London for several years. They returned to Miami in the late ’90s with two young daughters. The eldest, Carolina, attended Gulliver Preparatory School, and Julia ’08 , went to Ransom Everglades. Ardila served on Ransom Everglades’ Board of Trustees at that time, and he and Zurek-Ardila immersed themselves in their daughters’ lives. When Julia developed ovarian cancer, the family went through heartbreak. The beloved wife and mother died during her youngest daugh- ter’s senior year at RE. After his wife’s death, and with his daughters off to college (Carolina at Princeton, Beverley’s alma mater, and Julia at Boston University), Ardila made plans to return to Colombia. During his remaining time in Coral Gables, he befriended Colombian Luz Angela Sarmiento, who had been friends with his late wife and whose spouse also had died. The two grew very close and married in Colombia in 2011. Throughout his adult life, Ardila re- mained intimately involved in his family’s businesses with an emphasis on the soft- drink company Postobon and the distribu- tion and textile sectors. The lessons his father taught at a young age stayed with him. “It’s a company I have known all of my life,” he said. “From my youngest years, I was very closely associated with the com- pany, the factories, the products. It almost becomes a part of you. I have a very clear “Teamwork is essential to success. I see it in business. I see it, obviously, in sports and I imagine government also has to work that way. When you see a good team, something that works well, that’s very exciting.” – Antonio Ardila ’75 Michiel “Monkey” van de Kreeke ’88, Jim Beverley ’62, Antonio Ardila ’75, Dave Villano ’79