Simón Moret Gallart

Moret Gallart was born in Ponce, in 1853.^[1][b] He was a descendant of French immigrant Clemente Moret and the Spaniard Francisca Gallart who settled in Puerto Rico in 1816.^[2]

He was elected mayor of Ponce in 1906 and took the oath of office in 1907. He was a member of the Union of Puerto Rico Party and defeated Manuel V. Domenech of the Republican Party in a contested election.^[3] In 1911, Mayor Moret received from the Government of the United States of America a franchise for the City of Ponce to operate the Port of Ponce in perpetuity.^[4][5] The port of Ponce has been operated by the municipality since then. It is the only sea port in Puerto Rico owned and administered by a municipal body.

Among Moret's mayoral accomplishments are the construction of the Ponce Firefighters Mausoleum at Cementerio Civil de Ponce, which was completed on 2 April 1911. He also built the Port of Ponce following an ordinance approved by the Consejo Ejecutivo de Puerto Rico in 1911.^[6]

On 11 December 1906, Simón Moret Gallart married Matilde Perdomo Morales. He was 53 and she was 26 when they married. Simón and Matilde had three daughters from their marriage: Josefa, Ana Maria, and Carmen L.^[7] In 1910, while mayor, he was a resident of Barrio Segundo, and later, in 1920, he lived in Barrio Quebrada Limón.^[8]

He died in Ponce on 30 March 1923 and was buried at Cementerio Católico San Vicente de Paul.^[9] In Ponce there was a public school named after him, Elementary School Simón Moret Gallart, located at Carr 504, Km. 0.8, in barrio Portugues.^[10][11] The school ceased operations in 2013^[12] and as of 2015 the Government had put out bids for its demolition.^[13]

Moret Gallart is honored at Ponce's Park of Illustrious Ponce Citizens. Only six other mayors, of over 100 former Ponce mayors, are honored there.^[14]

• Ponce, Puerto Rico
• List of Puerto Ricans