Mário Wallace Simonsen (21 February 1909 – 24 March 1965)
was a Brazilian entrepreneur and businessman. Simonsen was born in

Santos, São Paulo Santos (, ''Saints'') is a municipality in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese nobleman Brás Cubas. It is located mostly on the island of São Vicente, which harbors both the city of Santos and the city of São ...

. The owner of a business conglomerate of over 30 companies, including

Panair do Brasil Panair do Brasil was an airline of Brazil. Between 1945 and 1965 it was considered to be the largest carrier not only in Brazil but in all of Latin America. It ceased operations in 1965. History NYRBA do Brasil (1929–1930) ''Panair do Bras ...

TV Excelsior Rede Excelsior was a Brazilian television network founded by Mário Wallace Simonsen on July 9, 1960, in São Paulo, São Paulo. Its last broadcast happened on September 30, 1970, when the Brazilian military dictatorship put an abrupt end to ...

, and coffee export company Comal (at a time when coffee made up two-thirds of the country's exports), Simonsen became one of the wealthiest and most influential men of Brazil. MARTINS, Ivan
"Um Empresário que Ninguém quer Lembrar"
. '. 14 April 2004. After the 1964 coup d'état, Simonsen was attacked by politicians and journalists in one of the largest defamation campaigns ever in Brazilian history, because of his support for overthrown president

João Goulart João Belchior Marques Goulart (1 March 1919 – 6 December 1976), commonly known as Jango, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 24th president of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on 1 April 1964. He was considered the ...

. He died in exile at age 56 in Orgeval, a village near Paris. His remains are buried at the

Batignolles cemetery The Batignolles Cemetery (french: Cimetière des Batignolles) is a cemetery in Paris. History Batignolles Cemetery opened on 22 August 1833. Part of the cemetery had to be closed and the graves moved because of the construction of the great ring ...

, in the French capital.

References

1909 births 1965 deaths 20th-century Brazilian businesspeople Brazilian people of Scottish descent People from Santos, São Paulo {{Brazil-business-bio-stub