Alfonso Valdés Cobián

Valdés Cobián was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico to Ramon and Encarnación Cobián. When he was a child his family moved to the United States and lived in Manhattan. While living there he attended the Hamilton institute, a preparatory school, and Columbia University, where he received a degree in electrical engineering in 1911.

The family returned to Puerto Rico and in 1910, his father, Ramón Valdés founded and organized the "Mayaguez Light, Power and Ice Company", a utility in the city of Mayagüez. The elder Valdés named Alfonso the company's vice president in 1915. The Government took over all power generation in the late 1930s and the company is now operated by "La Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica de Puerto Rico" (The Puerto Rico Electric Energy Authority).

Valdés Cobián was elected in 1917 to the Puerto Rico House of Representatives representing the district of Mayagüez, position in which he served until 1928. In 1928 he won his first of three terms as a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico, and also became president of the Puerto Rican Republican Party.