Concepcion, Jose Ma. R. Jr.
HS 1949, ACS 1951, BSC ACC 1954
1968
DLSAA Distinguished Lasallian Awardee
JOSE S. CONCEPCION, JR. (HS '49), Associate in Com-mercial Science '51), is an agriculturist turned businessman. After making a success in both fields, Joe became a civic leader whose abiding passion for clean elections in our country made him chair-man of the National Citizens Movement for Free Elec-tions, or NAMFREL. After his years in La Salle, Joe (as he is called by friends) took up agriculture at the Araneta University, where he majored in soils. "Agriculture has always been my earliest interest," he revealed, "and that is why I took my bachelor's degree in that discipline." As a laboratory worker, he was the first to use radio isotopes as a mechanism in finding out how much phosphorus was needed in fertilizers, a chemical ab-sorbed by plants for growth. A few years later, the family joined three others in starting the Republic Flour Mills, the pioneer in that field. They had made a thorough study of the venture and came to the conclusion that it would be profitable to start a mill. (La Salle: 1911-1986 by Carlos Quirino)