The founder of Corona beer has left £2m in his will to each resident of the small Spanish village in which he grew up.

Antonino Fernández, who died aged 98 in August, left £169m to the 80 residents of the small village of Cerezales del Condado in north west Spain, The Telegraph reports.

The owner of the only bar in the village, Maximino Sanchez told the Diario de León newspaper: “We never had any money before.

“I don’t know, what we would have done without Antonino.”

Mr Fernández first moved to Mexico in 1949 aged 32 where he started working for the Grupo Modelo brewery.

He rose through the ranks and was in large part responsible for making the company’s beers, including Corona, some of the best selling in the world.

He served as the brewery’s CEO from 1971 through to 1997.

A noted philanthropist, Mr Fernández established a company in his home province of León which provided jobs for those with disabilities before replicating the same model in the Mexican state of Puebla.

For his charity work, King Juan Carlos of Spain awarded him the Order of Isabella the Catholic.

 

(source: Independent)