The chairman of the British media group Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) stated today to Lusa that Francisco Pinto Balsemão “was an extraordinary man” and a loyal friend, “whose advice was always sincere, intelligent, and wise”.
Contacted by Lusa, Viscount Rothermere, chairman of the Board of Directors of the owner of the Daily Mail, highlighted that “Francisco was an extraordinary man who, in many ways, represented the journey his country has traveled over the last century”.
In his words, he described the founder of the Impresa group as “extremely intelligent and independent, as well as wise and kind”.
Francisco Pinto Balsemão “never let adversity hold him back, but saw challenges as an opportunity to grow and succeed both personally and in business”, continued the executive.
“He was a very loyal friend, whose advice was always sincere, intelligent, and wise” and “he loved life, lived it to the fullest, and appreciated the company of others who shared the same vision”, he emphasized.
Francisco Pinto Balsemão “touched many people in a very positive way and will be greatly missed by them”, concluded the chairman.
Pinto Balsemão was a non-executive member of the Board of Directors of the Daily Mail from 2002 to 2017.
The Council of Ministers approved today the decree for two days of national mourning for his death, to be observed today and Thursday, according to a source from the Prime Minister’s office.
Balsemão was an indispensable figure in the history of media in Portugal, a journalist who never ceased to be a politician, with the fight for freedom of expression and the right to inform as his guiding principles.
The founder of the weekly Expresso, still during the dictatorship in 1973, and of SIC, Portugal’s first private television channel, died on Tuesday at the age of 88 from natural causes.
In 1974, after the 25th of April, he founded, along with Francisco Sá Carneiro and Magalhães Mota, the Democratic People’s Party (PPD), later the Social Democratic Party (PSD). He led two governments following Sá Carneiro’s death between 1981 and 1983 and was, until now, a member of the Council of State, the advisory body to the President of the Republic.
