Jordi Porta i Ribalta was born in Barcelona in 1936. He began to work in 1950 and studied at night school to obtain his high school diploma after carrying out military service in 1959. He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of Barcelona (1963-1967), which he completed, thanks to a grant, in Nanterre (France) from 1967 to 1970. He was director of the Jaume Bofill Foundation from 1971 to 2001 and is a former leader of the Catalan Scout Movement. He is currently a member of the Editorial Board of the daily newspaper Avui, and the Board of Edicions 62 publishing house. He has chaired Omnium Cultural, Opinió Catalana, and the Catalan Foundation Coordinating Committee. He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the Patronat Català Pro Europa and was activities coordinator of the association “Cristianisme Segle XXI”. He also was an ombudsman for Barcelona Autonomous University from 2000 to 2009. He authored the book Anys de referencia (“Years of reference”, Columna, 1997) winner of the Ramon Trias Fargas Foundation Essay Prize, and the book El català, o ara o mai (“Catalan, now or never”, Angle Editorial, 2005). The Catalan Government awarded him the Cross of Sant Jordi in April 2010.