Olavo Egydio Setúbal (15 April 1923 – 27 August 2008) was a Brazilian industrialist, banker and politician. He had served as Mayor of São Paulo from 1975 to 1979,

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from 1985 to 1986, and

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, 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 gro ...

of the

Itaúsa Itaúsa is a Brazilian Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. Founded in 1966, It is one of the largest private conglomerates in Brazil and in the world. T ...

conglomerate from 2001 until his death in 2008.

Early life

Olavo Setúbal was born in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. His surname comes from the city

Setúbal Setúbal ( , , ; ), officially the City of Setúbal (), is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the entire municipality in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies withi ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, 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 a ...

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 Dexco, formerly known as Duratex, is a publicly listed private Brazilian company, factory of fiberboards the main product, with shares traded at the B3 since 1951. The company previously only called Duratex is the result of the merger Duratex ...

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

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, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' may ...

Paulo Egydio Martins appointed him to the post of Mayor of São Paulo. In 1985,

Tancredo Neves Tancredo de Almeida Neves () (4 March 1910 – 21 April 1985) was a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and entrepreneur. He served as Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil), Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs from 1953 to 1954, Pri ...

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 the 31st president of Brazil from 1985 to 1990. He briefly served as the 20th vice presiden ...

. He attempted to run for Governor of São Paulo in 1986, but was defeated in an internal election of the Liberal Front Party (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 Ministers of foreign affairs of Brazil Democrats (Brazil) politicians