ernesto carlos tornquist (31 december 1842 – 17 june 1908) was an argentinian entrepreneur and businessman, considered to be one of the most important entrepreneurs in argentina at the end of the 19th century. the diversified business empire he created played a key role in helping to link argentina with the trading and financial systems of the first world. amongst many other achievements, he founded the tornquist bank, the plaza hotel in buenos aires, the partido of tornquist and tornquist its main city, in the south of buenos aires province.