Saturday, December 18, 2021

A princely engagement: Fugger von Babenhausen-Stoudemire

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Hereditary Count Alexander Emanuel Josef Ernst Markus Maria Fugger von Babenhausen and Gabriella Beatriz Stoudemire have announced their engagement.   Alexander is the third child of five children and the second son of  HSH Hubertus Prince Fugger von Babenhausen and HSH Princess Alexandra zu Oettingen-Oettingen u Oettingen-Spielberg.  He was born in Augsburg on November 21, 1981.

Alexander became the heir after his brother, Count Leopold renounced his right of succession after he married Annina Kammer.

Gabriella Stoudemire is the daughter of Sterling Cranford Stoudemire and Dora-Beatriz Cortés Gelpi.  She was born on November 3, 1987.  

The Stoudemire family has roots in North Carolina.  Miss Stoudemire's mother was born in Puerto Rico.

Cran Stoudemire and Dora-Beatriz Cortés Gelpi were married on May 8, 1982, in an ecumenical service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.  The wedding was held in the Lady Chapel with Rev. Anthony Della Villa and the Rev. Peter James Lee, an Episcopalian priest, officiating.


Mrs. Stoudmire's family owns Cortes Hermanos LLC,. a Chocolate company with roots in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.  The Cortés family has been making chocolate since 1929.  They also run the Fundación Cortés, a "private non-profit organization that, through art and humanities, seeks to promote the strengthening of the values of our people."   Dora-Beatriz is one of the administrators of Cortés Hermanos LLC.


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Gabriella's father is the Managing Director at  Butler Capital Partners.  

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 Her paternal grandfather Sterling Aubrey Stoudemire was a long-time professor of Spanish, and chair in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of North Carolina. 

She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University in 2010, where she received a BA in Art History, Psychology, and Spanish.   She earned an MA in Contemporary Art at Sotheby's Institute of Art the following year.  Miss Stoudemire then attended  Columbia University's School of Business, receiving an MBA in 2018.   She works in Strategy & Partnerships at mHealth | ICT.


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The Hereditary Count is the Managing Director of Fürst Fugger Central Administration, headquartered at Schloss Wellenburg.  He worked in investment banking in London before returning to Germany to "manage the family's wealth and charitable activities," according to a Bloomberg profile, "How to Stay Rich in Europe: Inherit Money for 700 years (8/23/2016).

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 The Fugger von Babenhausen family owns "the Fuggerei, an affordable-housing complex founded by Jakob Fugger in 1521".  Alexander, who graduated from Harvard University in 2005, told Bloomberg:
“It’s not the fast-lived, dynamic sector that forces you to take high risks. In every decision we make for the Fuggerei, we try to consider that and be prudent. It would be disastrous if a mistake brought sustainability to an end after 19 generations.

“I almost feel a little bit more like a trustee,''  the Hereditary Count said. “I become very frugal in what I take for myself., referring to the family business.


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