Reynold Vincent "Rene" Anselmo (January 14, 1926September 20, 1995) was an American businessman who founded the satellite company

PanAmSat PanAmSat Corporation was a satellite service provider headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1984 by Reynold "Rene" Anselmo, it operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news a ...

and co-founded the television network

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

Early life

Anselmo was born in

Bedford, Massachusetts Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Bedford was 14,161 at th2022 United States census History ''The following compilation comes from Ellen Abrams (1999) based on information from Abram Engl ...

. His father was of Italian descent and the

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

in Quincy. At the age of 16, he enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

and flew 37 missions as a tail gunner on a

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

in the Pacific Theatre of Operations during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He graduated from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1951.

Career

Anselmo travelled to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, where he was hired by

Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...

to produce television shows for Mexican television. He wed his wife Mary during his residence in Mexico. Anselmo returned to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1963 to help run the Spanish-language television network

Spanish International Network Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and include ...

(the current day Univision). In 1984, he co-founded

. PanAmSat gained a foothold in the television market by providing satellite services for private commercial

communication network A telecommunications network is a group of nodes interconnected by telecommunications links that are used to exchange messages between the nodes. The links may use a variety of technologies based on the methodologies of circuit switching, messa ...

s, such as those used by international conglomerates to connect far flung

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

operations around the globe or provide data connections between a large number of retail outlets and

corporate headquarters Corporate headquarters is the part of a corporate structure that deals with tasks such as strategic planning, corporate communications, taxes, law, books of record, marketing, finance, human resources, and information technology. Corporate headqu ...

Personal life

Anselmo was married to Mary Anselmo, with whom he had three children, daughter Pier and sons, Rayce and Reverge. Anselmo was described as having "unflinching self-confidence and willingness to risk all in his fight to upend the status quo" in a tribute by ''

SpaceNews ''SpaceNews'' is a print and digital publication that covers business and political news in the space and satellite industry. ''SpaceNews'' provides news, commentary and analysis to an audience of government officials, politicians and executives ...

''. He challenged the

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

in satellite provision held by

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly Intel-Sat, Intelsat) is a Luxembourgish-American multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, United States. Originally formed ...

in the 1980s, taking out full-page ads in the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' asking political leaders, including former U.S. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

, to open up the satellite

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

market. He donated over 100,000 daffodils and

tulip Tulips are spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes in the ''Tulipa'' genus. Their flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly coloured, generally red, orange, pink, yellow, or white. They often have a different colour ...

s to the city of

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

. Anselmo died September 20, 1995, from

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

, aged 69. PanAmSat was left to his wife and his son-in-law, Fred Landman.

Reverge Anselmo

Anselmo's son Reverge owned Anselmo Vineyards before selling it in 2014, after a publicized battle with

Shasta County, California Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a County (United States), county located in the Northern California, northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from t ...

. As of 2020, Reverge Anselmo, who lives in Connecticut, contributed more than $100,000 to Patrick Jones' Shasta County District 4 Supervisor successful election campaign, "believed to be, at that time, the largest individual dollar contribution ever, to a local political campaign". In 2020, the Shasta County District Supervisor salary was $54,948 or $53,508. In addition, he has contributed more than a half-million dollars to Shasta County political committees, including $400,000 in November to ''Shasta General Purpose Committee/Recall Shasta'', a group for the recall of three supervisors, after giving them $50,000 in August.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anselmo, Rene 1995 deaths 1926 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century United States Marines American television executives United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Businesspeople from Boston American people of Italian descent American expatriates in Mexico University of Chicago alumni Child soldiers in World War II Univision people