The Founder and Honorary Chairman of the Odebrecht Group, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Odebrecht Foundation, the engineer Norberto Odebrecht, died of heart failure on July 19 at the age of 93 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The funeral was held in that city on July 20.

Norberto Odebrecht, who was also a member of the National Academy of Engineering, was born in Recife, Pernambuco, on October 9, 1920. He held a degree in Engineering from the Salvador Polytechnic, and founded the Construtora Norberto Odebrecht construction firm in 1944. Today, the Odebrecht Group is active in 23 countries and has nearly 200,000 Members.

In 1998, “Mr. Norberto,” as he was called by everyone who worked with him, began to devote himself exclusively to the Odebrecht Foundation and its social development projects in the Southern Bahia Lowlands. His efforts focused on the fulfillment of rural Family-Units by developing the Development and Integrated Growth Program with Sustainability for the Southern Bahia Lowlands Environmental Protection Areas Mosaic (PDCIS).

Over the course of 70 years, he systemized the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology (TEO), which contains the principles, concepts and standards adopted throughout the Group’s operations. Transferring and adapting that technology to the social context was one of his greatest contributions to the PDCIS. Based on TEO, the institutions taking part in the Program are confidently following the path of sustainable development.

The projects underway in the Southern Bahia Lowlands will continue, keeping the Founder’s dream alive.

“Anyone who is imbued with the Spirit of the Time doesn’t look inward or backward: they look forward, helping prepare the Future Generations, working as a team for the good of the Community”.
Norberto Odebrecht.