Gianmario Roveraro (24 May 1936 - 5 July 2006) was an Italian

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er, who was the first Italian athlete to jump over 2 metres barrier, and a banker, who founded Akros Finanziaria.

Biography

As a young man he was a brilliant sportsman. He was national champion in

on three occasions (1954, 1955, 1956), improving to three times the record of Italian specialties, the first Italian over 2.00 m, he participated in the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

in Melbourne, where he placed 23rd.

Banking

After graduating in economics, he began his banking career in 1961. Five years later, he moved to Sige, to work for the IMI group, introducing the world first Italian financial instruments, such as investment funds. He was for many years president of the Fondazione Rui istituzione che sovraintende ai collegi universitari dell'Opera. In 1987 he founded Akros, after disagreements occurred the previous year in Sige, Akros became a major Italian merchant bank, in those years he collaborated with the Cirio Sergio Cragnotti and was architect of Parmalat's placement on the Stock Exchange of Calisto Tanzi. Mr. Roveraro had been questioned in an investigation into the financial collapse and bankruptcy fraud of food and dairy giant

Parmalat Parmalat S.p.A. is a dairy and food corporation which is a subsidiary of French multinational company Lactalis. It was founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961. Having become the leading global company in the production of long-life milk using ultra-h ...

, which is based in Parma, Italy. In 2003 the Parmalat company collapsed with more than $14 billion Euros in debt. (Europe's biggest corporate failure)

Disappearance

He went missing on 5 July 2006 following an

Opus Dei Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei ( la, Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Catholic Church whose members seek personal Christian holiness and strive to imbue their work an ...

meeting of prayer and spiritual formation. It is thought that he was kidnapped, although no ransom was made. He contacted his family twice: once to call his wife and tell her he had to resolve an issue in Austria and later to request 1 million euros. He was interviewed about the collapse of Italian food giant

, following its collapse in 2003. His badly beaten body was found near Parma on 21 July 2006. Police suspect the murder may be related to a business deal and three suspects were arrested.http://www.repubblica.it/2006/07/sezioni/cronaca/roveraro/confessa-socio-roveraro/confessa-socio-roveraro.html (ITALIAN)

National titles

* Italian Athletics Championships **

High jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

: 1954, 1955, 1956 (3)

References

External links