Juan Angulo Jr. Honored at UPF&DA Spring Conference

Juan Angulo Jr., president of Superior-Angran, was named an Honorary Member of UPF&DA at the Spring Conference. In attendance at the awards ceremony were (left to right) Jacqueline Angulo, UPF&DA President Tommy Reeves, Juan Angulo Jr. and Sylvia Angulo.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Juan Angulo Jr., the second-generation owner of Superior-Angran, San Juan, Puerto Rico, was named an “Honorary Member” of UPF&DA at the organization’s Spring Conference, April 23-24, in Orlando, Fla.

Angulo is one of a handful of industry representatives to be named an “Honorary Member” of UPF&DA. Others on the distinguished list include Millard and Ada Oldham, Oldham Chemicals Co.; Bill Brehm, B&G Equipment Co.; Juan Angulo Sr., Superior-Angran; Norm Ehmann, Univar; Tom Forshaw Jr., Forshaw Chemicals; Cal Stephenson Sr., Stephenson Chemical Co.; and Clayton Wright, B&G Chemicals & Equipment Co.

Prior to UPF&DA President Tommy Reeves presenting the award to Angulo at a reception on the first day of the conference, PCT Publisher Dan Moreland shared Angulo’s family history with those in attendance.

“The history of the pest management industry…is the history of families. And few families are as universally respected or loved more unconditionally than the Angulo family,” he said. “Perhaps because of their remarkable personal history, the sons and daughters, mothers and fathers of the Angulo clan, appreciate family more than most. That’s because this ‘First Family’ of the Caribbean pest management industry — with its early roots in Cuba — was nearly broken apart during Fidel Castro’s rise to power in 1959.”

Juan Angulo Jr. was only 9 years old when he fled his family’s homeland with his mother and sister, posing as tourists, to escape the increasingly repressive Castro regime. “Each of us had $5 in our pockets, which is the only money they would allow us to take with us,” he recalls. “In Havana Airport the authorities took us to different rooms to interrogate and search us because people were trying to take jewelry and other valuables out of the country. But we had to appear like we were visiting family in the United States, so we didn’t take anything but our clothes and $5,” leaving behind their father, who had hatched the plan in pursuit of the ultimate human aspiration — freedom to shape one’s own destiny. Juan’s mother, Maria, said she cried when the airplane rolled down the runway and lifted off from Havana International Airport, leaving behind the man she first met as a young girl in Cuba. “We were leaving everything behind we had worked so hard for and I was leaving without my husband. We were all alone.”

“Unable to secure a visa to flee the country through traditional channels, Juan Angulo Sr. obtained one under an assumed name and flew to Jamaica a few months later, where he let his family know he was alive,” Moreland said. “While in Jamaica, with the help of the Catholic Church, he served as manager of a halfway house for displaced immigrants, helping Cubans re-establish themselves in a new country.” After three months, the elder Angulo was able to scrape together enough money to travel to Miami and rejoin his family. Ultimately, the family relocated to Puerto Rico in 1960, where Juan Sr. accepted a position selling pesticides for a local agricultural products distribution company.

He launched Superior-Angran from the family’s garage in 1972. “The rest, as they say, is history,” Moreland said. “Juan and his wife, Sylvia, followed in their mother’s and father’s footsteps, investing in the business and expanding the family’s legacy throughout the Caribbean, extending a helping hand to fledgling pest control businesses throughout the region, much as Juan Angulo Sr. was given a helping hand during his darkest hours decades before.

“Perhaps because they were forced to leave so many family members behind when they fled Cuba with only the clothes on their back,” Moreland said, “the Angulo’s appreciate the value of relationships, and work particularly hard to nurture their ‘family’ relationships — both personal and professional — more than most.”

It’s a legacy that continues to this very day as the third generation of the family, Jacqueline Angulo, manages the day-to-day operations of the business.

In reflecting about her father, Jacqueline says the first word that comes to mind is “honor” because, she says, “he always does things for the right reason, for the greater good,” a lesson rooted in his family’s deep faith. Jacqueline says her father is the perfect complement to her mother — the love of Juan’s life — who is more talkative and outspoken than her husband, a strong woman with a passionate streak and an artist’s creative sensibilities. “They are like the sun and the moon,” she says, “one cannot live without the other.”

At 60, Juan Jr.’s life “has come full circle,” Moreland said, “grandfather of Carolina, 8, and Sebastian, 7, about the same age he was when he was forced to flee Cuba more than half a century ago, a frightened boy with an uncertain future.”

That future is no longer uncertain today thanks to the hard work and dedication of Juan Angulo Jr., a man who has worked tirelessly on behalf of the pest management industry and UPF&DA.