Olavo Egídio Setúbal (16 April 1923 – 27 August 2008) was a Brazilian industrialist, banker and politician. He was

Mayor of São Paulo In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

from 1975 to 1979, Minister of External Relations from 1985 to 1986, and

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

Itaúsa Itaúsa is a Brazilian multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. It is one of the largest private conglomerates in Brazil, and one of the largest in the world. The company controls several companies active i ...

conglomerate from 2001 until his death in 2008.

Early life

Olavo Setúbal was born in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

. His surname comes from the city

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, where his great-grandfather was born. He decided to become an engineer at an early age, against the wishes of his father Paulo, a successful bohemian writer, who advised Olavo to become a lawyer instead. After his father's death, his mother, Francisca Setúbal, supported his studies from the age of 13 onwards. In 1945, he graduated from the

Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo The Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo (or the Engineering School of the University of São Paulo, Portuguese: Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo) (usually called Poli, Poli-USP or EPUSP) is an engineering school at ...

and began working as professor-assistant at the Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas (IPT) in São Paulo.

Business career

With US $10,000 that he managed to save, Setúbal and an old school friend bought two machines, founding ''Deca''. The company produced parts for knobs and faucets and had ten employees at the time of its founding. The business struggled until 1953, with the introduction to the industry of the flush valve. When Deca was doing well, Setúbal was asked to help salvage his uncle Alfredo's businesses,

Duratex Duratex, or Dexco, is a publicly listed private Brazilian company, with shares traded at the B3 since 1951. The company previously only called Duratex is the result of the merger Duratex with Satipel Industrial, a company founded in 1971. It is ...

and a small bank, the Banco Federal de Crédito. Setúbal successfully relieved both institutions from debt. When his uncle died in 1959, Setúbal became general director of the Banco Federal de Crédito. He started seeking big clients and obtained resources that allowed the bank to finance bigger operations. One of his first measures was to make sure all managers had at least a high-school education. In the 1960s, Setúbal concluded that the only way to expand the business was to incorporate other institutions. When

Banco Itaú Banco Itaú S.A. was a former Brazilian bank that merged with Unibanco on November 4, 2008, to form Banco Itaú Unibanco. History Banco Itaú began in 1945 under the name ''Banco Central de Crédito'' (Central Bank of Credit) and later changed ...

was bought in 1964, the client base was mainly rural and the bank became the 16th largest in Brazil. A series of further mergers led to Setúbal becoming the second largest banker in Brazil by the end of the 1970s.

Political career

In 1975,

Governor of São Paulo A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

Paulo Egydio Martins appointed him to the post of

. In 1985,

Tancredo Neves Tancredo de Almeida Neves () (4 March 1910 – 21 April 1985) was a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and entrepreneur. He served as Minister of Justice and Interior Affairs from 1953 to 1954, Prime Minister from 1961 to 1962, Minister of Financ ...

appointed Setúbal as Minister of Foreign Relations, and he took up the post during the presidency of

José Sarney José Sarney de Araújo Costa (; born José Ribamar Ferreira de Araújo Costa; 24 April 1930) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and writer who served as 31st president of Brazil from 1985 to 1990. He briefly served as the 20th vice president of ...

. He attempted to run for Governor of São Paulo in 1986, but was defeated in an internal election of the

Liberal Front Party The Democrats ( pt, Democratas, DEM) was a centre-right political party in Brazil that merged with the Social Liberal Party to found the Brazil Union in 2021. It was founded in 1985 under the name of Liberal Front Party (''Partido da Frente Libe ...

(PFL), and gave up the idea, retiring from political life.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Setubal, Olavo Egidio Mayors of São Paulo 1923 births 2008 deaths Businesspeople from São Paulo Brazilian people of Portuguese descent University of São Paulo alumni Brazilian bankers Foreign ministers of Brazil Democrats (Brazil) politicians