Georgia Tech Athletics Donor Profile: Roland Fuentes

At the age of five, Roland Fuentes took his first plane ride. It was only a 150-mile trip in a Ford trimotor from Havana to Cienfuegos, but that short flight ultimately landed him at Georgia Tech and launched a high-flying career.

"From that moment, I fell in love with airplanes," he said, recalling the trip with his grandmother. "Flying became one of the real passions of my life."

Fuentes was born in Miami in 1934 to Cuban-American parents. His father worked for Pan American Airways, and the Fuentes family moved to Havana in 1937 as the company expanded its operations in Cuba.

He was enrolled at the Colegio de Belen, the same boarding school that Coke's Roberto Goizueta and Fidel Castro had attended a few years earlier. His family also owned a plantation near the city's airport, and he helped his grandfather with the daily labor.

"That's where I learned about having a strong work ethic," he related. "My grandfather taught me all about hard work from cutting sugar cane to milking cows."

Fuentes and his family moved back to the U.S. in the mid-1940's, and Roland attended school in Arkansas and St. Louis until it was time to choose a college.

"Aviation, by that time, had become my ambition in life," he said. "I knew I wanted to become an Aeronautical Engineer. I had choices-MIT, Southern Cal and a few others. My father recommended that I go to Georgia Tech."

That suited Fuentes just fine, as he was keenly interested in athletics, and Georgia Tech was one of the giants on the sporting landscape in the 1950's.

"Those were really the glory days," he recalled. "I wanted to play tennis at Georgia Tech, but I realized pretty quickly that if I wanted to be an Aeronautical Engineer then I had better focus completely on that. I had my tough times, but I graduated on time."

Fuentes earned his degree in 1956 and embarked on a colorful career in the military, engineering and real estate. A member of the Air Force ROTC while at Georgia Tech, he attended flight school shortly after graduation and spent the next three and a half years as a Fighter Pilot in the Air Force.

As a reservist assigned to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Fuentes continued his engineering career at Delta in 1961 as an Aviation Performance Engineer. After three years, he moved to Lockheed, where he worked on the company's groundbreaking C-5 program.

"I was selected to be a group engineer for the production and construction of the C-5 simulator, which was the highlight of my engineering career," he stated.

In 1967, Fuentes was called up and deployed to Vietnam, where he served for the next two and half years. Upon his return, he decided to pursue a career in commercial real estate, specializing in shopping centers. He also found the time to earn master's degrees in business and psychology, as well as graduate from the Air War College in Alabama.

In 1996, Fuentes began to divest his real estate holdings and enter retirement. He has spent more time with his wife, Anne, and his three sons. An avid tennis player, golfer and fisherman, Fuentes spends his summers in Maine.

More recently, Fuentes has turned his focus towards helping his alma mater. He has served in various capacities, including leading the Capital Campaign efforts for the School of Aeronautical Engineering. He currently serves on the Alexander-Tharpe Fund Board of Trustees, and he's a Life Member of the organization.

"I'm sure there's a lot more to learn, but I'm getting a good perspective on the complexity of all the programs involved," he said. "I can certainly appreciate some of the difficulties of being competitive in the NCAA and keeping up the standards of Tech."

Fuentes and his wife attend virtually every Tech football and basketball game, often traveling to road games. He was especially pleased with the season that the men's and women's tennis program completed last spring, reaching new heights in the school's history.

"Wasn't that incredible?" he asked. "The athletes and coaches did such an amazing job, and we were so proud to see how far they've come. It really shows how athletics here has grown beyond just football and basketball. They had a great year, and there's more to come. It's just another example of what a special place Georgia Tech is."