Roberto Marinho

Roberto Marinho was a Brazilian publisher and businessman who expanded into radio and television, creating a large, successful media conglomerate known as Organizações Globo. He founded and was the president of the Brazilian TV channel, Globo, a television network that now has 113 stations and associates. He was born on December 3, 1904, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to a family of German immigrants. He studied at the Polytechnic School of Bahia and took over his father's small engineering business at the age of 21. He transformed it into a construction company that expanded rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s, when Brazil's military government invested heavily in infrastructure projects. Globo Television reaches almost every home in Brazil through its stations and affiliates. The network is powerful enough to decide when Brazil's soccer matches kick off. With the production of telenovelas (soap operas), TV Globo has capitalized on its reach. Marinho was considered one of the most influential and powerful figures of the 20th century in Brazil. He was also a philanthropist who supported social and cultural initiatives in the country. He died on August 6, 2003, in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 98. He was survived by his wife Lily, his four sons, and his grandson Marcelo, who became the CEO of the company in 2002.