Luis Eugenio Cadiz Benavides

Luis Eugenio Cadiz was born in Valparaíso, Chile, in 1933, where he spent his formative years alongside his two younger brothers. There he was educated at the French Catholic School, where, one may assume, he first acquired his taste for languages and caught his first glimpse of the wider world he would eventually travel so extensively.

Lucho, as he was fondly called by family and friends, went on to study Law at the University of Chile, graduating in 1960. That same year he married María Eugenia Jiménez, and the two promptly embarked on the first of many travels abroad together, on a fellowship awarded to Lucho to study at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Josip Broz Tito, the erstwhile leader of Yugoslavia, once said: "I am the leader of one country which has two alphabets, three languages, four religions, five nationalities, six republics, surrounded by seven neighbors, a country in which live eight ethnic minorities."

This is a fitting metaphor for the life of Luis Eugenio Cadiz.

Upon his return to Chile in 1962, Lucho joined the Diplomatic Corps and embarked on a career that spanned five decades, three continents, and nine countries. And yes, Yugoslavia was one of them. Over the course of those five decades, he witnessed the outbreak of the Falklands War alongside the Argentine Ambas[sador to Denmark; was tasked with opening Chile's diplomatic mission in Islamabad during the Zia ul-Haq era; chaired the Geneva chapter of the Group of 77; and was present in Berlin when the Wall fell.

Lucho deployed his skills at the grill and an encyclopedic memory for song lyrics to charm fellow diplomats and the occasional head of state, with a voice that rivaled Ol' Blue Eyes himself, on a good day. Whether it was the grilled meats or his dulcet tones, he must have been doing something right, because he eventually amassed a modest collection of decorations from Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Denmark, and his own country, in recognition of a distinguished career.

Of his many postings, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland held a special place in his heart. Lucho retired in 2011 after 50+ years of dedicated public service and came full circle, returning to Charlottesville in 2021, where he lived out his final years surrounded by his wife, his daughter, his son-in-law Richard, and spent time with his grandchildren, Alejandra and Ignacio.

Lucho passed away on the 11th of May 2026, at the age of 92, having lived a long life, full of adventures, Wasa crackers, hummus and the occasional sushi. Lucho was a true Bon Vivant.

He is survived by his wife, María Eugenia, and their children, Alejandra and Jose Luis, his grandchildren Ignacio, Alejandra, Daniela and Bruno, his son-in-law Richard and his daughter -in-law Paola.