Jordi Puig Ferrer
Premium memorial Featured26 November 1989 — 14 May 2026 · aged 36
Telefónica engineer, casteller at the base of the tower and a man who held everyone up
Barcelona, Spain Born in Sabadell, Catalonia Resting at Montjuïc Cemetery, BarcelonaAbout Jordi
In every photograph of a human tower the eye goes up: to the child at the top, waving, the enxaneta. Nobody looks at the pinya, the great crush of bodies at the bottom that makes the whole thing possible. Jordi Puig spent twelve years in the pinya, and would not have swapped it for anything.
He was born in Sabadell in 1989, the elder son of a bus mechanic and a primary school teacher. He studied telecommunications engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and in 2014 joined Telefónica, where he spent his career building the networks that carry other people's phone calls, video chats and, he liked to point out, Barça matches. He worked on the rollout of 5G across Catalonia and was known for two things: never saying a problem was impossible, and bringing pa amb tomàquet to the office on Fridays.
At twenty-four he joined a colla castellera, one of the Catalan groups that build human towers up to ten storeys high, and found his place at the base, carrying the weight of everyone above him. The castellers' motto is força, equilibri, valor i seny: strength, balance, courage and common sense. Jordi had all four, and used them on a Saturday afternoon in a square in Barcelona with eight hundred people watching, and on a Monday morning in a data centre with nobody watching at all.
He met Núria Vidal on a hiking trip in the Pyrenees in 2016, proposed to her at the top of a mountain 'to make sure she could not run away', and married her in 2019. Their daughter Aina was born in 2023. He sang to her in Catalan every night, mostly out of tune. He supported FC Barcelona with the good-humoured despair of a Catalan, and cooked a famous escudella every Christmas.
Jordi died on 14 May 2026 in Barcelona after a short illness, with Núria, his parents and his brother beside him. At the farewell, hundreds of castellers formed a pinya in the square outside, in silence, with an empty place at the base. He leaves Núria, Aina, his parents Josep and Montserrat, his brother Pau, and everyone who ever stood on his shoulders.
“Força, equilibri, valor i seny.”
- Place of birth
- Sabadell, Catalonia
- Resting place
- Montjuïc Cemetery, Barcelona
- Passed away
- 14 May 2026, Barcelona
Celebration of Life
Monday, 18 May 2026 at 11:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Fund for Núria and Aina
Support for Núria and two-year-old Aina, with any surplus placed in a trust for Aina's education.
$5,624 raised of $12,000
47%20 recent contributions
- TH
Tsion Hailu gave $142.50 · 2mo ago
- BN
Brendan Nolan gave $95 · 2mo ago
“Pole sana to the family.”
- TH
Tsion Hailu gave $47.50 · 2mo ago
“From your old classmates.”
- LW
Lorna Whyte gave $71.25 · 2mo ago
- RM
Rosalía Méndez gave $95 · 2mo ago
“In honour of a great man.”
Life journey
MSc in Telecommunications Engineering
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)2007 – 2013 · Barcelona
Graduated while holding down two part-time jobs.
Casteller, base of the tower
Castellers de Barcelona2014 – 2026 · Barcelona
Twelve years in the pinya, carrying the weight of the tower.
Married Núria Vidal
2019 · Barcelona
Seven years of marriage.
Birth of his daughter Aina
2023 · Barcelona
The proudest day of his life.
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Family & connections
Jordi is survived by
- Núria Vidal· Spouse
- Aina Puig Vidal· Daughter
- Josep Puig· Father
- Montserrat Ferrer· Mother
- Pau Puig Ferrer· Brother
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Jordi.
Knew Jordi? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- FV
Brother-in-law
He asked for my sister's hand in the most Jordi way possible: with a spreadsheet of reasons and a fully worked-out plan for the wedding. I said yes before he got to page two. He was the brother I never knew I needed.
- SM
University friend, now in Berlin
We shared a flat in Sants for five years and one frying pan. Jordi cooked, I cleaned, and neither of us ever mentioned it. When I moved to Berlin he posted me a parcel of Catalan sausage with a note: 'Don't forget where the bread is from.' I never have.
- DR
Professor of Telecommunications, UPC
In sixteen years of lecturing I have taught perhaps three students who were certain to become better people than engineers. Jordi was one of them. He asked the best questions and then stayed behind to help the others find the answers.
- MR
Neighbour in Poblenou
Every summer Jordi organised the paella on our roof, bought the rice himself and refused money. Last July he played football with the children of five flats and then fell asleep in a deckchair with Aina on his chest. I took a photo. I will never show it to anyone. It is the happiest thing I know.
- LC
Telefónica colleague
He never said 'that's not possible'. He said 'let me see'. On our worst night, a fibre cut at three in the morning, he drove to a village near Girona with a flask of coffee and a spare cable and had it fixed by dawn. Then he drove home to take his daughter to nursery.
- MS
Fellow casteller, pinya
Jordi was the first person I ever saw smile while holding two hundred kilos on his shoulders. He would whisper 'I've got you' to the person above him before they knew they needed to hear it. On Saturday, the pinya left a space for him. Nobody stepped into it.
