Gladys Loynaz Arango

Gladys Loynaz del Castillo de Arango

December 13, 1932 - January 20, 2026

It is with great sadness that we note the passing, on January 20, 2026, of Gladys Loynaz del Castillo de Arango. Born on December 13, 1932 in Havana, Cuba, to Jorge Loynaz del Castillo and Coralia González, she was 93 years old and left this world after suffering a heart attack during physical therapy for fractures sustained in a fall two weeks prior. She was the devoted wife of her beloved Mario Raúl Arango (who predeceased her in 2016), mother of six children, grandmother and great grandmother to seven.

Two things mattered most to Gladys, she would often say: her family and her country. She grew up in an illustrious family of Cuban giants and patriots. Her great aunt was Dulce Maria Loynaz, poet laureate of Cuba and 1992 recipient of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize in Spain. Dulce’s father was the renowned Cuban Liberation Army hero General Enrique Loynaz del Castillo, who authored the lyrics to “El Himno Invasor” march. Dulce’s brothers, Enrique and Carlos Manuel Loynaz Muñoz and sister, Flor, were also poets.

Blessed with an array of talents Gladys studied law and interior design at the University of Havana, one of the oldest universities to be founded in the Americas (1728). She married Mario, her childhood sweetheart, in 1956 and moved to Mexico, where he worked for Nestlé. They remained in Mexico after Castro’s revolution and became central to the Cuban émigré community in Mexico City, taking in people fleeing the country, connecting them with services, and more. Their two sons, Mario Raul and Jorge Sergio, and eldest two daughters, Dagmar Aracoeli and Gladys Jacqueline, were born there.

Their life was peripatetic, leading the family first to Chicago (where another daughter, Glenda Elisabeta, was born), then to Miami Beach, where their youngest daughter, Daphne Alexandra, was born.

A gifted entrepreneur, Mario’s business enterprises took the family to locations throughout the United States and the Caribbean, including establishing furniture stores in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. In both locations, Gladys won several awards for her interior design work.

Gladys loved her family fiercely and navigated these moves with courage, grace and determination making the best of each experience. These inner resources enabled her to face the many obstacles she and her family endured throughout her life including frequently packing up six children to settle them in another school system and even escaping a country.

The Arango family finally settled in Miami, where Gladys established a suicide crisis hotline, served as president of her beloved Sacred Heart Alumni Association and worked for 25 years as a social worker for Miami Jewish Home Services, where she ministered to the elderly. During that time, she returned to college earning a Bachelor of Science in Social Work.

Throughout their lives, Gladys and Mario were world travelers, visiting almost every continent on the globe. Their home was filled with art, antiques and artifacts from around the world reflecting their passion for life and zeal for adventure.

Gladys is survived by her children: Mario (Deborah) Arango of Miami, FL; Jorge of Portland, ME; Dagmar Arango (Jim) Vaught of Atlanta, GA; Jacqueline Arango (Jesse) de la Fuente of Weston, FL; Glenda Arango (Ken) Meekins of Oviedo, FL; Daphne Arango of Tucson, AZ. She is also survived by her grandchildren: Lindsay Arango (Brad) Mixson, Courtney and Amanda Arango, Jorge Gaviria, Spencer (Lexi) Meekins, Harrison (Sofia) Meekins, and Deirdre Meekins (Michael) Durand and grandchildren: Haley Arango, Landon and Aiden Herschberger, McKenzie Mixson, Luisa and Senna Gaviria, and Myles Meekins.

A Mass will be held March 28, 2026 at 1 p.m. at St. Louis Catholic Church, 7270 SW 120th St., Pinecrest. Burial at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery, 11411 NW 25th St., Doral will follow at 3 p.m.