Torcuato di Tella (18921948) was an Argentine industrialist and philanthropist.

Life and times

Torcuato di Tella was born in

Capracotta Capracotta is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Isernia in the Italian region of Molise, located about northwest of Campobasso and about north of Isernia. It is the second highest municipality near the center of Italy at above sea ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, in 1892. He arrived in Argentina at age 13 and settled in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

.Universidad Torcuato Di Tella: breve historia
/ref> A widespread, 1911

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who ...

workers' strike prompted di Tella to develop a bread making machine, which he sold to a number of the city's ''panaderías'' as both a labor-saving device and a hedge against future strikes. The venture gave birth to ''Sección Industrial Amasadoras Mecánicas'' ("Bread Making Machine Industries"), or, simply, ''SIAM''.''Clarín''
/ref> Di Tella enlisted in the

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; upon his return, he enrolled in the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

, earning a degree in hard sciences in 1921. The country's leading bread and

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...

machine maker by the 1920s, di Tella's friendship with

Enrique Mosconi Enrique Carlos Alberto Mosconi (21 February 1877 – 4 June 1940) was an Argentine military engineer, who is best known as the pioneer and organizer of petroleum exploration and extraction in Argentina. Early life Mosconi was born in Buenos A ...

, the Director of the newly established State oil concern

YPF YPF S.A. (, formerly ; English: "Fiscal Oilfields") is a vertically integrated, majority state-owned Argentine energy company, engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, and the transportation, refining, and marketing of gas and petr ...

, helped result in a contract for their

petroleum extraction Petroleum is a fossil fuel that can be drawn from beneath the earth's surface. Reservoirs of petroleum was formed through the mixture of plants, algae, and sediments in shallow seas under high pressure. Petroleum is mostly recovered from oil dr ...

pumps,

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...

s, and

fuel dispenser A gasoline pump is a machine at a filling station that is used to pump gasoline (petrol), diesel, or other types of liquid fuel into vehicles. Gasoline pumps are also known as bowsers or petrol bowsers (in Australia), petrol pumps (in Common ...

s, making SIAM a leading Argentine manufacturer. A military coup in 1930 resulted in the contract's rescission, however, prompting di Tella to convert his new factory in the southern

suburb of

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is connected ...

into the manufacture of

industrial machinery The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to industrial machinery: Essence of industrial machinery * Heavy equipment * Hardware * Industrial process * Machine * Machine tool * Tool Industrial machines * Agricult ...

and

home appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. Appliances are divided into three ty ...

s (particularly

refrigerator A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

s), becoming an employer to 10,000 workers and the largest, domestically-based industrial conglomerate in Latin America. Torcuato di Tella married a fellow

Italian Argentine Italian Argentines ( it, italo-argentini; es, ítalo-argentinos, or ''tanos'' in Rioplatense Spanish) are Italy, Italian-born people (born in Argentina or Italy) or non-Italian citizens of Italian people, Italian descent residing in Argentina. It ...

, María Robiola, and had two sons: Torcuato and Guido. He was politically active as a dedicated anti-fascist, assisting its victims in Italy, helping marshall opposition to Italian dictator

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

and representing Argentina in numerous

ILO The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and ol ...

conferences. He taught Economics and Management at his alma mater from 1944 and, never holding public office, di Tella drafted a number of work safety and other labor legislation proposals. Torcuato di Tella died in 1948 at age 56, and per his wishes, his two sons (both engineers) took control of SIAM, renaming it ''

Siam di Tella SIAM (an acronym from Sección Industrial Amasadoras Mecánicas, formerly SIAM Di Tella) is an Argentine home appliance brand, currently owned by "Grupo Industrial Newsan", a leader of the segment in the region. The original "Siam Di Tella" company ...

''. The company continued to grow, albeit erratically, and in the 1960s became known for both its automobiles (producing 28,000 between 1962 and 1966) and its refrigerators (of which over 500,000 were made). The family established the

Torcuato di Tella Institute The Torcuato di Tella Institute is a non-profit foundation organized for the promotion of Argentine culture. Overview 1959-1960 The Di Tella Foundation and its institute were created on July 22, 1958, the tenth anniversary of the death of indust ...

, an educational and philanthropic society for the promotion of local artists, in his honor in 1958; the institute became a leading local promoter of

avant-garde art The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical D ...

in the 1960s.Instituto Torcuato di Tella
Competition from foreign subsidiaries, changing government policy towards free trade, and the vicissitudes of the

Argentine economy The economy of Argentina is the second-largest national economy in South America, behind Brazil. Argentina is a developing country with a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base. Ar ...

itself helped bankrupt the company by 1981, however, and its last remnants were sold off in 1994. Torcuato and

Guido di Tella Guido di Tella (June 12, 1931 – December 31, 2001) was an Argentine businessman, academic and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Life and times Guido José Mario Di Tella was born in Buenos Aires, 1931. His father, Torcuat ...

founded the

Torcuato di Tella University The Torcuato Di Tella University (''Universidad Torcuato Di Tella'', commonly referred to as UTDT or La Di Tella) is a non-profit private university founded in 1991. Located Buenos Aires, Argentina, it is focused primarily on social sciences. The ...

in 1991, the year Guido became Argentina's Minister of Foreign Relations.

References and external links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Tella, Torcuato 1892 births 1948 deaths People from the Province of Isernia Italian emigrants to Argentina 20th-century Argentine businesspeople University of Buenos Aires faculty Argentine philanthropists University of Buenos Aires alumni Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery 20th-century philanthropists