Francisco Pinto Balsemão’s children highlighted this Wednesday, in a letter to Impresa workers, that their father’s legacy is eternal and that everyone who collaborates with the group is part of it.
“It’s a very difficult day for all of us. We thought it wouldn’t come because we started to believe that Francisco Pinto Balsemão – father, husband, grandfather, journalist, entrepreneur – was eternal. As everyone will remember, the sentences about the future began by the founder of the Impresa with the expression ‘If I ever die…’. But his legacy is eternal. And his legacy is all of us”, said the children in the letter to which Lusa had access.
Mónica Balsemão, Henrique Balsemão, Francisco Maria Balsemão, Joana Balsemão and Francisco Pedro Balsemão refer to the feeling of loss that is uniting everyone who works in the media group, as everyone was “part of his family: wife, children and grandchildren, but also the many professionals who collaborated or collaborate with Impresa”.
For the children, Balsemão’s death is also a loss for the entire media sector – where he was a “unique and visionary figure” – and for the country, which they highlight as “one of the founding fathers” of democracy.
The children thank the workers for having built with Balsemão “a history that gave the country winds of freedom, with Expresso, winds of modernity, with SIC, winds of change, with the pioneering spirit that has always characterized it”.
In both projects, they reinforce, Balsemão acted with “freedom, independence, rigor”.
In the letter, the children quote phrases from their father in which he highlights his main principle of fighting for freedom, namely freedom of expression, and the objective of leaving the world better than he found it.
“Francisco Pinto Balsemão left the world a better place. It is up to us to follow his legacy”, say his children at the end of the letter.
Francisco Pinto Balsemão, former leader of the PSD, former prime minister and founder of Expresso and SIC, died on Tuesday at the age of 88.
Francisco Pinto Balsemão’s wake will take place today from 6:30 pm in Lisbon, at the Jerónimos Monastery. The mass will take place on Thursday at 1:00 pm, also at the Jerónimos Monastery.
The wake and mass are open to the public, with the funeral reserved for the family.