Gianmario Roveraro (24 May 1936 - 5 July 2006) was an Italian

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er, who was the first Italian athlete to jump over 2 metres barrier, and a

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

, who founded Akros Finanziaria.

Biography

As a young man he was a brilliant sportsman. He was national champion in

on three occasions (1954, 1955, 1956), improving to three times the record of Italian specialties, the first Italian over 2.00 m, he participated in the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

in Melbourne, where he placed 23rd.

Banking

After graduating in economics, he began his banking career in 1961. Five years later, he moved to Sige, to work for the IMI group, introducing the world first Italian financial instruments, such as investment funds. He was for many years president of the Fondazione Rui istituzione che sovraintende ai collegi universitari dell'Opera. In 1987 he founded Akros, after disagreements occurred the previous year in Sige, Akros became a major Italian merchant bank, in those years he collaborated with the Cirio Sergio Cragnotti and was architect of Parmalat's placement on the Stock Exchange of Calisto Tanzi. Mr. Roveraro had been questioned in an investigation into the financial collapse and bankruptcy fraud of food and dairy giant

Parmalat Parmalat S.p.A. is an Italian dairy and food corporation which is a subsidiary of French multinational company Lactalis. It was founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961. Having become the leading global company in the production of long-life milk us ...

, which is based in Parma, Italy. In 2003 the Parmalat company collapsed with more than $14 billion Euros in debt. (Europe's biggest corporate failure)

Disappearance

He went missing on 5 July 2006 following an

Opus Dei is an institution of the Catholic Church that was founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaría Escrivá. Its stated mission is to help its lay and clerical members seek holiness in their everyday occupations and societies. Opus Dei is officially r ...

meeting of prayer and spiritual formation. It is thought that he was

kidnap Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

ped, although no ransom was made. He contacted his family twice: once to call his wife and tell her he had to resolve an issue in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and later to request 1 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s. He was interviewed about the collapse of Italian food giant

, following its collapse in 2003. His badly beaten body was found near

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

on 21 July 2006. Police suspect the murder may be related to a business deal and three suspects were arrested.http://www.repubblica.it/2006/07/sezioni/cronaca/roveraro/confessa-socio-roveraro/confessa-socio-roveraro.html (ITALIAN)

National titles

Italian Athletics Championships The Italian Athletics Championships () are the national championships in Athletics (sport), athletics, organised every year by the Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera. The first edition, four races only, was held in 1906 at Arena Civica in ...

High jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

: 1954, 1955, 1956 (3)

References

External links

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"Banker in food scandal is found dead after Opus Dei meeting"
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The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...