Jack Guiteras, president and founder of Lorraine Travel in Coral Gables, Fla., died Oct. 7 in Florida at the age of 81, following a battle with pulmonary fibrosis.
Guiteras, a leader in the Cuban-American community in Florida and outspoken supporter of the U.S. embargo against travel to Cuba, “provided indefatigable dedication in the crusade for his beloved Cuba and worked to promote awareness of the island’s plight for freedom,” according to his son Greg.
“Free travel between the U.S. and a post-Castro, democratic Cuba is an event that my father always hoped for during his lifetime,” Greg said, adding that his dad “was equally fervent in his adoration of this country, zealously flying both the American and Cuban flags on all national holidays.”
Guiteras, born in Cuba in 1930, established Lorraine Travel with his wife Luisa in Havana 1948, and worked closely with Pan Am and National Airlines in the early years of the travel agency.
Although the couple emigrated to Miami in 1960 due to political unrest in Cuba, the agency remained open in Havana until it was confiscated by the Cuban government.
Over the years, Lorraine Travel opened additional locations in South Florida as well as a satellite office in Puerto Rico.
Lorraine Travel was the first Florida travel agency to fully implement the Sabre system and today is one of the largest privately owned travel management companies in the state. Lorraine specializes in government and corporate travel as well as offering leisure travel services.
With Guiteras and his wife at the helm, Lorraine Travel pioneered the “drive-through” ticketing window service long before e-tickets existed, established the Lorraine Travel School to prepare students for careers in travel, organized two private charters of the Concorde in the late 1980s and maintained a long-standing partnership with American Airlines.
He was keen on exploring space travel, of taking “his clients into outer space to explore zero-gravity,” Greg said.
Guiteras is survived by his wife of 57 years, six children and eight grandchildren.
Funeral services are planned for Oct. 15 at 2:30 p.m. at the Church of the Little Flower, 2711 Indian Mound Trail, Coral Gables, Fla.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Regis House.