‘Started with a good deed:’ Miami executive honored as one of nation’s top immigrants

A South Florida businessman and philanthropist is being celebrated for his contributions as an immigrant to the U.S.

Miguel “Mike” B. Fernandez, a 70-year-old Cuban exile, healthcare executive and immigrant rights advocate, was one of dozens recognized Wednesday by the Carnegie Corporation as 2023’s Great Immigrants.

Others honored include Ajay Banga, the president of the World Bank; actor Pedro Pascal; five-time Olympian Bernard Lagat; Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette; and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization.

“In my ZIP Code, there’s more people that are more qualified than I am,” Fernandez quipped Thursday. “I actually never thought it would get to this point, but I am shaped by the experiences that I have lived.”

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The recognition, which has honored more than 700 influential immigrants since 2006, pays tribute to Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who became one of the richest Americans in history — and a leading philanthropist.

“The 35 naturalized citizens honored [this week] embody that tradition, reminding us that the contributions of immigrants make our country more vibrant and our democracy more resilient,” Dame Louise Richardson, president of Carnegie Corporation, said in a statement.

Fernandez, who lives in Coral Gables, was a “penniless 12-year-old immigrant” when his family fled their hometown of Manzanillo on Christmas Eve 1964. They sought refuge in Mexico City, where they lived in a convent and later with other Cuban and Mexican families.

His experiences were the catalyst for his work in supporting undocumented immigrants and calling for immigration reform. Fernandez, once a top fundraiser for former Gov. Rick Scott and other Republicans, has criticized anti-immigrant rhetoric and helped provide legal services to immigrants.

“I arrived in Mexico with my family, as undocumented Cubans,” Fernandez told the Miami Herald in 2017. “I know what it is like to be hiding in a hotel room so you only get to play outside at night. My mother did not leave that room for the six months we were in Mexico.”

Fernandez balanced weekend jobs and his coursework while a student, on scholarship, at an all-boys Jesuit high school in New York City. He attended college but never graduated. He was drafted during the Vietnam War and became a door-to-door salesman after three years as an Army paratrooper.

Eventually, he moved to Miami, where he became a billionaire healthcare tycoon. He’s now the chairman and CEO of MBF Healthcare Partners, and has been involved with more than 20 healthcare endeavors.

“Every one of those started, not with a goal of generating a new business, but started with a good deed,” Fernandez said Thursday. “It did not start with the idea ‘I’m gonna make lots of money.’”

Giving back, Fernandez said, has always been important in his life. He reflected on how months after he moved to Miami in 1975, he came across an article about a girl in Brazil whose legs had been burned.

The story touched him so deeply that he called what was then Variety Children’s Hospital near South Miami, asking how he could help.

Back then, Fernandez earned $500 a month as an insurance salesman. But he bought the girl and her mother tickets to Miami and rented an apartment for them. Doctors taught her how to walk again.

Fernandez has since made a name for his charitable giving, donating more than $100 million.

“It’s not how much we have, but it’s how much we’ve given,” Fernandez said in an interview this week. “Sometimes it’s a handshake, sometimes it’s a hug, sometimes it’s just a smile. That feeling of doing good for somebody else and expecting nothing in return, I think is the best reward.”

That’s also why he has supported the immigrant community in light of increased attacks across the country.

In a column published by the Miami Herald, Fernandez urged leaders to see immigrants as people escaping war, persecution and economic collapse for peace and prosperity — and as an opportunity to strengthen the economy.

“As we have done throughout our history, America should welcome this current wave of immigrants and seize this moment while we have the chance.”