Photographer. Born in Havana, Cuba under the name of Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, it was during a memorial service in Havana on May 5, 1960 that he took a picture of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. That picture became monumentally famous, even being deemed by the Maryland Institute of Art as “the most famous image of the 20th century”. Despite the fame of the photograph, he never made money with this picture. From 1959 to 1968 he was Cuban President Fidel Castro’s personal photographer. His first wife. Natalia Menendez, became the first Cuban fashion model. Alberto Korda’s last notable appearance as a photographer in 1998 when Pope John Paul II visited Cuba. In 2000 he sued first Smirnoff Vodka for using his famous picture in an advertisement and later Sony for using it on a CD cover, winning both times. After he died at an exhibition of his work in Paris, his close friend Fidel Castro attended his funeral. (bio by: Lutetia)