Jorge Gormaz

Jorge Gormaz studied at Benjamin Vicuña Mackenna College and then earned a law degree from the State University in 1897. He was a lawyer and statesman who was elected as a Parliamentary Deputy in 1906 and served two terms, through 1912. He later became Minister of Foreign and Internal Affairs and Minister of War and Marine in Chile. Gormaz led the Chilean delegation at the Pan American Congresses in Buenos Aires and Lima and in 1937 headed the delegation which signed a trade agreement with Bolivia. He stood as a Presidential candidate in 1938 but did not win the election. In business he was managing director of the Bank Matte and an advisor to the Banco Espanol. He had a keen interest in aviation, organized the Military Aviation School, presided over the first Pan American Aeronautical Congress in Santiago, and was President of the Aero Club

Gormaz had two unexceptional terms as an IOC Member. He was co-opted in April 1923 but resigned in a letter of December 1927 as he was no longer living in Chile. The resignation was accepted in July 1928 at the IOC Session in Amsterdam, but when Alfred Ewing was de-commissioned, Gormaz asked to rejoin the IOC and this was accepted in December 1933. However, Gormaz was himself de-commissioned in June 1939 for failure to pay dues and the fact that he had never attended an IOC Session.