Enrico Cuccia
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Enrico Cuccia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 24 November 1907 |
| Died | 23 June 2000 (aged 92) Milan, Italy |
| Occupation | Financier |
| Years active | 1930s–1982 |
| Spouse | Idea Nuova |
| Children | Two daughters and a son |
Enrico Cuccia (24 November 1907 – 23 June 2000) was an Italian banker, who was the first and long-term president of Mediobanca SpA, the Milan-based investment bank, and a significant figure in the history of capitalism in Italy.[1]
Career
Cuccia started his career as a journalist, but he left soon.[7] He began to work at the Central Bank of Italy and served in Ethiopia.[7] In 1934, he joined the state-run holding group, Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI).[8] Then he began to serve as a manager at IRI's Banca Commerciale Italiana in 1938.[3][9]
In 1946, Cuccia was appointed president of Mediobanca when it was founded.[9][10] Subsequently, he was the first head of the bank, which was initially named as Banca di Credito Finanziaro.[1] In 1982, he retired from the board of Mediobanca and was given the title of honorary president.[11][12] Antonio Maccanico succeeded him in the post.[13] Cuccia kept an office at the bank until his death in 2000.[3]
Cuccia also served as a personal adviser of the Agnelli family.[7] However, their alliance ended at the end of the 1990s.[14]
Activities
Cuccia shaped the Italian company patterns until 1992 when a bill became effective in order to encourage the privatization of state-owned companies and banks.[15] He was the major contributor to the merge of Montecatini and Edison into Montedison, which occurred in 1966.[16] The merger was the first reorganisation of the chemical industry.[7] He was also instrumental in Olivetti's takeover of Telecom Italia in 1999.[16][17] In addition to these much more visible activities, he "was the principal dealmaker (and breaker) in the secretive world of large private Italian capitalism."[18]
Personal life
Cuccia married Idea Nuova Socialista (meaning New Socialist Idea in English) Beneduce and had three children, two daughters and a son.[11][19] They had known each other since high school and got married in 1939.[15] Cuccia's spouse was the daughter of Alberto Beneduce, the founder and president of the IRI.[20]
Death and burial
Cuccia underwent an operation for prostate cancer in April 2000.[11] He died at the Monzino Foundation cardiological center in Milan on 23 June 2000 at the age of 92.[16] After a private funeral ceremony on 24 June, he was buried in the family graveyard in his villa in Meina, a village beside Lake Maggiore.[21][22][23] His body was laid under the body of his wife.[6]
However, Cuccia's corpse was stolen on 18 March 2001.[6][24] The thieves sent a letter, demanding a ransom of $3.5 million to be paid to a foreign bank account.[25] The corpse was found on a mountainside near Turin, and two men arrested in relation to the incident at the end of March.[26][27] They were convicted and given a suspended sentence in December 2001.[26]
