He was the eldest child of
Venezuelans Alberto Fernando Vollmer Boulton, of German, English, French, Dutch, Spanish and Dominican descent (descendant of
Juan Manuel) and Luisa Mercedes Herrera Uslar, belonging to the
House of Herrera . He married Luisa Mercedes Acedo Mendoza (great-great-granddaughter of
Cristóbal Mendoza, descendant of
Simón Bolívar's sister, Juana Bolívar, niece of
Eugenio Mendoza and
Eduardo Mendoza Goiticoa and, at the same time, second cousin of
Leopoldo López and
Thor Halvorssen) with whom he had eight children: María Teresa, Gustavo Julio, Inés María, Alfredo Ignacio, Luisa Mercedes, Ana Gertrudis, Federico José and María Antonia. Vollmer, alongside his brother Alberto J. Vollmer Herrera are the patriarchs of the Vollmer clan in Venezuela, the country's oldest business dynasty. Although extremely low profile, the Vollmer family maintains an active ownership and management role in a wide variety of business operations across the agricultural, consumer goods and financial services sectors. The family leads and controls
Mercantil Servicios Financieros, the country's leading financial services institution in banking and insurance, with Vollmer's eldest son currently serving as chairman and CEO. They also own and operate Venezuela's largest rum distillery and one of the worldwide leaders in premium rums, Santa Teresa Rum located in
El Consejo,
Aragua, as well as Central El Palmar, a vast sugarcane refinery, mill and plantation the family owns in neighboring
San Mateo, Aragua. The Vollmer family are also renowned for backing the funding and development of numerous education initiatives across Venezuela. Among the most prominent was their 1963 donation to the Jesuit order of an 80-acre portion of their Hacienda Montalban, in central Caracas, to build what is today the
Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, one of the top universities in Venezuela and
Latin America. The family is also active in promoting photography, art and culture through the Alberto Vollmer Foundation, and runs several award-winning initiatives in social development and inclusion through the Santa Teresa Foundation. Vollmer graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, USA. Vollmer also served as President of the National Council of the
Asociación de Scouts de Venezuela, President of the
Interamerican Regional Scout Council, and as a member of the
World Scout Committee of the
World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1963 to 1969 and again from 1973 to 1979. In 1969, Vollmer was awarded the
Bronze Wolf, the only distinction of the
World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, at the 22nd World Scout Conference. He also received the
Silver Buffalo in 1965, and the highest distinction of the
Scout Association of Japan, the
Golden Pheasant Award, in 1968. ==References==