杰內羅索·埃羅阿（Generoso Eiroa）（上圖左一）在煙草行業工作了70年，幾乎在主要的雪茄生產國都工作過，從古巴到多米尼加共和國。12月3日，他在洪都拉斯去世，享年86歲。他是CLE雪茄公司克里斯蒂安·埃羅阿（Christian Eiroa）的伯父，是JRE煙草公司朱利奧·埃羅阿（Julio Eiroa）的哥哥。

克里斯蒂安·埃羅阿在一封情真詞切的感謝信里懷念叔叔照顧小時候的自己，那時候克里斯蒂安只有三歲。當時他生活在洪都拉斯，不小心被嚴重燒傷。叔叔杰內羅索抱著克里斯蒂安去醫院治療。后來克里斯蒂安在杰內羅索的家里住了幾個月，進行康復治療。每天杰內羅索都會到克里斯蒂安的房間陪伴他，給他折一架紙飛機。克里斯蒂安的父親朱利奧·埃羅阿1977年在一次飛機飛行事故中部分癱瘓，杰內羅索繼續照顧克里斯蒂安和他的家人一段時間。

杰內羅索·埃羅阿16歲的時候就開始工作，當時在古巴的科羅霍勝利農場（La Victoria del Corojo tobacco farm）種植煙葉，作為家庭的長子，他一直在照顧母親維多利亞和兩個弟弟朱利奧和弗朗西斯科。1960年，他前往美國的佛羅里達州，在坦帕工作。1962年，又前往尼加拉瓜在煙草農場工作。1964年，他到了洪都拉斯的賈馬斯特蘭河谷，和弟弟朱利奧一起種植煙草。

克里斯蒂安·埃羅阿回憶道，當時他們住在一個小屋里，只有三個燈泡，還要一臺小發電機，發電機晚上八點就會停止工作。條件很艱苦，他們就這樣節約下每一分錢，一直堅持到1970年代末。杰內羅索做事有條理，即使在晚年，也會經常用鉛筆記賬。

1980年，杰內羅索搬到了多米尼加的圣地亞哥，在那里加入了環球煙葉公司（Universal Leaf）的一個子公司 INETAB，負責該公司的深色風干煙葉。2000年他從 INETAB退休。

埃羅阿家族以生產雪茄著稱，朱利奧和克里斯蒂安共同生產卡馬喬（Camacho）品牌的雪茄，克里斯蒂安自己創建了 C.L.E.雪茄公司，并生產C.L.E.雪茄、Chele（男孩）、Prieto（普列托）、25周年等品牌的雪茄。這些雪茄使用的煙葉都是洪都拉斯種植的科羅霍煙葉。如今，朱利奧和克里斯蒂安仍然在洪都拉斯的賈馬斯特蘭河谷種植煙葉。

談到杰內羅索，克里斯蒂安說，即使去醫院看望叔叔時，叔叔還在溝通從克里斯蒂安那里采購一批茄芯煙葉的工作。

杰內羅索·埃羅阿留有妻子伯蒂卡，以及四個孩子：格尼托、瑪麗、維姬、豪爾赫。他還有兩個弟弟：朱利奧、弗朗西斯科。此外還有八個孫子（外孫）和一個曾孫。

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Generoso Eiroa, who spent 70 years working in the tobacco business in just about every major tobacco-producing country, from Cuba to the Dominican Republic, died on Friday. He was 86 years old. He was the uncle of cigarmaker Christian Eiroa, and the brother of tobacco grower Julio Eiroa.

In a heartfelt note, Christian remembered how his uncle cared for him when he was only three years old, living in Honduras and badly burned. “My mother tells me the story of how he carried me to the hospital in his arms,” he wrote. “I spent months at his house in Tegucigalpa recovering and every day he would come in to my room and make me a paper airplane.” Generoso went on to care for Christian and his family later, when Julio Eiroa, Generoso’s brother and Christian’s father, was partially paralyzed in a plane crash in 1977.

Generoso Eiroa began working around tobacco when he was 16, running the La Victoria del Corojo tobacco farm in Cuba. “Being the eldest of the family, it was up to him to take care of my grandmother, Victoria and his two little brothers, Julio and Francisco,” said Christian Eiroa. Generoso would go to Tampa, Florida in 1960, and then to Nicaragua in 1962, working on tobacco farms. In 1964 he moved to Jamastran, Honduras, joining his younger brother, Julio on a tobacco farm.

“They lived in a shack with three lightbulbs and a generator which would get shut down at 8 p.m. every night so they could save every penny. My father and uncle would work together until the late ’70s. Tio Gene was extremely organized and was known to keep a ledger in pencil, even in his later years.”

In 1980, Generoso moved to Santiago, Dominican Republic where we went to work with INETAB, a division of Universal Leaf, running the company’s dark, air-cured tobacco. He retired from INETAB in 2000.

Cigar tobacco runs strong in the Eiroa family. Julio and Christian made Camacho and other cigars together, and Christian now owns C.L.E. Cigar Co., making such cigar brands as C.L.E. Chele, Prieto and 25th Anniversary, all of which feature Honduran Corojo-seed tobacco. Julio and Christian still grow tobacco in the Jamastran Valley of Honduras.

“He never left the tobacco business,” said Christian of his uncle. “Even as I visited him in the hospital, he was coordinating the last containers of filler I had purchased from him.”

Generoso Eiroa is survived by his wife, Bertica; by his children Genito, Mary, Vicky and Jorge; his brothers Julio and Francisco; eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.