António e Hanna Damásio expressed their sorrow at the death of a close friend.
“If he had done nothing more than inventing Expresso, Francisco Pinto Balsemão would have secured his place in Portuguese history,” said the neuroscientists.
“But such a guarantee does nothing to lessen the profound sadness with which the death of our friend Francisco affects us,” they added.
Balsemão was a pivotal figure in the history of Portuguese media, a journalist who remained politically inclined, always advocating for freedom of expression and the right to inform.
The founder of the weekly newspaper Expresso during the dictatorship in 1973 and of SIC, the first private television in Portugal, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88 due to natural causes.
In 1974, after the Carnation Revolution, he established the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), later renamed Partido Social Democrata (PSD), alongside Francisco Sá Carneiro and Magalhães Mota. He led two governments following Sá Carneiro’s death, from 1981 to 1983, and was a member of the Council of State, an advisory body to the President of the Republic, until his passing.
The news of the death of PSD’s founding member was conveyed by the social-democratic leader and prime minister, Luís Montenegro, during a national council meeting of the party in Lisbon.
