On Sunday, November 24, I was one of the many who attended Javier Cercas’ admission to the Royal Spanish Academy. I personally met the new academic whose two of his most widely read writings I had long read: the formidable novel “Soldiers of Salamina” and the subsequent investigation “Anatomy of an Instant,” about the assault on the Congress of Deputies on February 23. from 1981; when in an instant everything was about to change, and be ruined for the young Spanish democracy.
“Anatomy of a moment” could also be called the story about a well-known and representative person, the businessman Isak Andic, who died last Saturday the 14th, at noon, in the area of Monserrat near Barcelona. In a hiking area where the slightest personal carelessness can be the cause of a fatal accident, as indeed happened with Isak. Andic, the greatest businessman in Catalonia, born in Istanbul 71 years ago. He fell in love with Barcelona and settled there, creating the company Mango to reach the top of the business ranking. With 2,800 high-quality fashion clothing stores around the world, the latest in New York; and with assets estimated at 4.5 billion euros.
A fall into a vacuum of just over 100 meters does not last more than two or three seconds. A moment in which Isak – as they say happens – had to review, at the speed of light, his entire life and his pending life projects.
A deep sadness moved all of Spain, due to the loss of a man who valued his life, in a country that welcomed him and that he knew how to honor. Getting to “touch the sky”, with the admiration of everyone for their good work.
Rest in peace Isak Andic.