José Manuel de Mello

José Manuel de Mello (December 8, 1927 - September 16, 2009), was a Portuguese businessman who founded the conglomerate Grupo José de Mello. He was the heir of an older industrial conglomerate, Companhia União Fabril (CUF), which had been founded by his grandfather Alfredo da Silva. José started to work for CUF until the Carnation Revolution military coup in Lisbon, on April 24, 1974. With the pro-communist inspiration of the radical events that followed the coup, José de Mello had to leave the country. Some years later, as democracy and modern capitalism prevailed in post-revolutionary Portugal, Mello, like many other political refugees of the entrepreneurial class, returned to his country. He then resumed his business activities and ultimately built a business conglomerate - the Grupo José de Mello with strong interests on banking, insurance, healthcare, energy, engineering and telecommunications. He had 12 children.