Roberto Madan, a champion for Latinos at McDonald’s, passes at 100

Roberto Madan, a Cuban-American businessman who built a chain of McDonald’s restaurants and helped champion opportunities for U.S. Latinos within that company, passed today at the age of 100, at his home in Edison, N.J.

An athlete who had excelled at handball in his native country and had recently been elevated to the sport’s Cuban Hall of Fame, Madan left Cuba with his wife Ana, in the early sixties. The couple worked as language teachers before trying their luck as McDonald’s franchisees.

As luck would have it, Madan’s entrepreneurial attempt was crowned with incredible success gradually owning a large number of stores in the New York-New Jersey region, which has been operated and expanded by his daughter Ana, a well-known business leader in the community and within McDonald’s.

However, it was Roberto Madan’s vision for U. S. Latinos and McDonald’s what gained him the reputation of “a committed warrior for Latino equity within the Golden Arches and the community.” A vibrant, candid, honest voice, he helped Hispanic-Americans access a chance at becoming franchisees throughout the McDonald’s system.

“I, like McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, believe in giving back to the community,” said Madan who was instrumental in helping lead McDonald’s Scholarship’s Program HACER.

“Roberto was a force for good and, for many years, the Latino conscience for a giant brand,” said Daisy Expósito-Ulla, of d expósito & Partners. Through his life, Madan shared his business and marketing vision with agencies such as Conill, The Vidal Partnership, Alma, Moroch and d expósito & Partners.

Roberto Madan is survived by a large family that includes his daughter Ana and his son Jose, both of them McDonald’s owner-operators. The family is well-known for their services and contributions to the community and for their works of philanthropy and support of humanitarian causes.