CARLOS “CARLITO” FUENTE JR., a humble Floridian, grew up in Tampa in a wooden house with a tin roof that was within earshot of the interstate that bisected the historic cigar-producing district of Ybor City. He went on to become the foremost cigarmaker of his generation, an iconoclast who authored innovative new chapters to the history of his craft.

His road to success, though, was paved on occasion with insurmountable pitfalls and devastating setbacks. Yet his drive, passion and perseverance ultimately won the day. Having achieved what many deemed impossible, Carlito had an epiphany: His life’s work is not about the cigars; it was never about the cigars. It’s about the people. The individuals who toil the land, roll the leaves and revere a centuries-old artisanal trade. It’s about love and respect. Those two virtues are accompanied by a fierce urgency to give back. “Giving back and sharing the love is my greatest joy,” Carlito says—a sentiment that stems from the fact that he has never forgotten where he came from.

Like his father and grandfather, Carlito was destined for something his modest beginnings belied. The eponymous company his grandfather founded in 1912 would carry the family name around the globe, but while success was incremental, by the third generation the business had cemented itself in cigarmaker lore, thanks largely to “Carlito’s Folly,” which became his greatest achievement: the Fuente Fuente OpusX, one of the most celebrated cigars ever blended. Today, under Carlito’s tenure, Arturo Fuente Cigars is known as one of the world’s finest premium hand-rolled cigar manufacturers.

But while Carlito’s dreams became reality, they also widened his eyes to the plight of others in the community that surrounds Château de la Fuente in the Dominican Republic, from which the OpusX hails. While his childhood was one of straitened circumstances, it was nonetheless filled with boundless love and family support. What he witnessed in the central Dominican Republic, however, was anything but: abject poverty and illiteracy that created a vicious cycle of communal and generational decay.

So Carlito took action, and the result is what he considers his greatest personal accomplishment: cofounding the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation (CFCF). Since its establishment in 2001, the CFCF has successfully brought education (kindergarten through secondary school), health and dental care, vocational training, athletics (a judo Olympian is among its graduates) and clean water, as well as much-needed infrastructure, to children of low-income families in the Dominican Republic, particularly those in the mountainous mining and agricultural Bonao region, which includes the village of Caribe, the community that surrounds the Château de la Fuente farm. The CFCF has been recognized by the United Nations as an exemplar of corporate and social responsibility, supported by private philanthropy. This organization has changed the lives of thousands of people and brought great joy and success to this rural region—replicating the love Carlito knew as a child.

Another philanthropic endeavor cofounded by Carlito is the Fuente Family Foundation, dedicated to supporting the Boys & Girls Club, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Dan Marino Foundation for autistic children, the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s CaP CURE program and other American charities. Carlito continues to support these organizations to create a happier, better world and share his passion for helping lift communities in need.