FOUNDER: JOSÉ DE AZEREDO PERDIGÃO
The penultimate Portuguese monarch, D.Carlos, was on the throne in Portugal when José de Azeredo Perdigão was born on the square of the Cathedral of Viseu, in the “Casa do Miradouro”, which the nephew of Bishop D. Diogo Ortiz de Vilhegas had ordered to be built.
He was the grandson of Major Roque Rangel de Azeredo, who was one of the liberals exiled to England. They became known in history as the “Bravos do Mindelo” (the Brave or the Wild Men of Mindelo) who were part of the company of D.Pedro IV that fought against the troops of D. Miguel in 1832.
The Azeredo family was illustrious, and some of its members even had university training (a rarity in those days), and the Perdigão family, not having social status, had wealth and properties.
He was the son of José Perdigão, a Republican by conviction who was caught up in the advent of republican ideals, providing refuge in his home to the oppositionist Aquilino Ribeiro, and who did not deviate from the political ideal espoused by José Relvas. His heavy involvement in the republican movement led the elder José Perdigão to the brink of bankruptcy and forced him to move his family to Lisbon.
José de Azeredo Perdigão, most certainly due to the anticlerical streak in his father, was a misfit in religious terms, at a time when elementary education included religion as a mandatory subject. But at home, religion had no place, and José de Azeredo Perdigão reached his 4th year of school, completely illiterate, in terms of religious knowledge. The story begins right at the age of 10: when he came up to the final exam, the President of the Jury ordered him to say the “Our Father” (Lord’s Prayer). The pupil, somewhat embarrassed, said he did not know it. The Teacher then insisted he recite the “Creed”. José de Azeredo Perdigão gave the same reply – he did not know this either. In the country areas, the gravity of such a fact was beyond redemption and so it was that José de Azeredo Perdigão, at the tender age of 10, was already the target of two Catholic newspapers published in Viseu at that time. As one can imagine, they did not pass up the opportunity to attack this sacrilege with the objective of striking at his father, and they nicknamed him “THE ATHEIST IN BREECHES”. And that is how José de Azeredo Perdigão, who was only 10 years old, made his debut in the press!
Much later, and in a remarkable interview with the weekly publication Expresso, he affirmed his conversion to Catholicism and said he came to God, not through reason or intelligence, but by the simple way of faith. And it is in regard to the faith of this unusual man that we transcribe an excerpt of the statement given by Cardinal António Ribeiro in the book commemorating the centennial of the birth of José de Azeredo Perdigão: “One day, while waiting for the start of a solemn ceremony, we conversed—Dr. Azeredo Perdigão, the Ambassador of the Soviet Union and I—on the remarkable progress of science and technology in our day and on the need for ethical norms in contemporary civilisation, so that this progress does not turn against man and society. In the course of the conversation, Dr Perdigão took from the pocket of his coat the beads of a rosary, showed them to the Ambassador who represented a power that was officially atheist, and said, “I want you to know, Mr Ambassador, that, if I have the strength to go on fighting, it owe it to praying his rosary, which I say every day, whenever I can.”
José de Azeredo Perdigão was born in Viseu on September 19, 1896, and completed the 5th year of the Lyceum course in that city, but it was in Lisbon in 1913 that he completed the two sections of the course – Arts and Sciences – at the Liceu de Camões.
José de Azeredo Perdigão enrolled in the School of Social Studies and Law in Lisbon the first year it opened, and it was at this school that he did the exams for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Groups, receiving classifications of 19, 19 and 18 marks (out of 20) respectively. On January 15, 1919, he took the State Exam for the complementary part of Juridical Sciences at the University of Coimbra, which he passed with a classification of “Very Good”, 18 marks.
While he was still a student, he took employment in the Ministry of Finance, where he earned a salary of 42$50 escudos a month, money which, together with what he made from tutoring, was sufficient to pay his studies.
It was also during his student days that he wrote and published the following works: The study A Indústria em Portugal (Industry in Portugal), published in 1915, and Lições de Direito Internacional Público (Lessons in International Public Law) and Lições de Economia Social (Lessons in Social Economics), published in 1916.
In 1915, he met António Ferro at the Law School and began taking part in the modernist discussions of a group that included illustrious people such as Fernando Pessoa, Santa-Rita Pintor, and Almada Negreiros, among others.
It was when he came to the defence of a colleague at the Law School —Augusto Cunha, who would later become the brother-in-law of António Ferro, accusing the Professors, Doctors of Law, of having committed a serious injustice in the classification of his colleague—that the worst happened to him: José de Azeredo Perdigão was expelled from the Lisbon School of Law.
This episode forced him to abandon the Law School in Lisbon and to conclude his Law studies at another school. It was time to move to Coimbra, and in this city on the Mondego he enrolled in the university, where he completed his law studies, with the high marks mentioned above.
Shortly after concluding his law studies, he began his career as a lawyer in Lisbon in 1919, where he opened a law office in Rua de São Nicolau, nº 23 – 2º, still today the location of the head offices of AZEREDO PERDIGÃO & ASSOCIADOS. He was very intense in his work as a Lawyer and highly successful as a legal adviser for some of the most important industrial and commercial companies.
In the 1920-1921 school year, he directed a Social Economics course at Universidade Popular Portuguesa.
He was one of the founders of the advertising company “Seara Nova” and, with Aquilino Ribeiro, Faria de Vasconcelos, Raul Brandão, Câmara Reis, Ferreira de Macedo and Raul Proença, formed the first Editorial Board of the magazine Seara Nova (October 1921 to April 1923), in which he published various studies and commentaries on economic and financial problems.
In 1926, he received the highest classification – 20 marks – in the public competition for appointment as Registrar for the Land Registry Office in Lisbon, an office he performed in the current head offices of AZEREDO PERDIGÃO & ASSOCIADOS until 1954, when he took an unlimited leave of absence. He resigned the position in February 1958. As an employee, he was classified as “Very Good”. For various years, as Registrar of the Land Registry Office he was a member of the High Judiciary Council.
He was also on the General Council of the Bar Association for the trienniums 1945-1947 and 1948-1950, and served as President of the Institute of the Conference of the Association in the years 1951-1954 and 1957-1960.
As a lawyer, José de Azeredo Perdigão published various works on legal doctrine and critique, including: (i) Concurso para a Adjudicação da exploração das águas sulfúreas do Arsenal da Marinha (Competition for Awarding of Contract for the exploitation of the sulphurous waters of Marinha) (1920); (ii) O seu a seu dono (To each his due), (iii) O Direito de Opção nos trespasses de estabelecimentos comerciais (The Right of Option in transfer of key money for commercial establishments) (1929); (iv) A Falência da Sociedade Torlades , Limitada (The Bankruptcy of the Company Torlades, Limitada) (1931); (v) Uma cláusula inédita de convenção ante-nupcial (An unheard-of clause in pre-nuptial agreements) (1939); (vi) Das servidões por destinação do Pai de Família (On rights-of-way by destination of the Head of Household)(1940); (vii) Da não retro-actividade da Lei Administrativa (On the non-retroactivity of the Administrative Law) (1940); (viii) Da natureza jurídica do contrato de gerência commercial (On the legal nature of the commercial management contract) (1945); (ix) A justiça no ocaso? Não. Simplesmente em eclipse parcial (Is the sun setting on justice? No. It’s only a partial eclipse) (1945); (x) Política e Justiça (Politics and Justice) (1946); (xi) Está reaberta a audiência (Court is in session) (1952).
Along with his professional activity as lawyer, he gave numerous talks and conferences, some on legal matters, others on matters of general culture, including: (i) Subsídios para o Estudo do Problema do pagamento e remição dos Foros em Ouro (Subsidies for the Study of the Problem of the payment and redemption of Gold Certificates) - Memorial addressed to the Companies Chamber and the National Assembly in 1946; (ii) O princípio da autonomia da vontade e as cláusulas limitativas da responsabilidade civil (noções gerais) (The principle of autonomy of will and the limiting clauses of civil liability (general notions)) – Address to the Institute of the Conference of the Bar Association in 1947; (iii) Vantagens para a contabilidade da regulamentação dos Técnicos de Contas (Advantages to accounting gained from regulation of Accountants) – Conference (deposition) given to the Portuguese Accounting Society in 1949; (iv) O Conselheiro Martins de Carvalho (Councillor Martins de Carvalho) – Eulogy given at the inaugural session of the Lisbon Conference of the Bar Association in 1957.
He was the general reporter for the juridical theme of the 19th Congress of the International Lawyers’ Union (Lisbon, 1962), A protecção das minorias nas sociedades (The protection of minorities in societies). He later gave a series of lessons on the same subject at the summer courses of “Faculté Internationale pour l’ Enseignement du Droit Compare”, held in Lisbon in 1964 and 1971, and for this reason the title of Professor at that School was bestowed upon him.
From May 1974 to March 1975, José de Azeredo Perdigão was a member of the Council of State.
He was a director of various corporations and companies, including: (i) Banco Nacional Ultramarino, and Chairman of the General Meeting (ii) Banco de Portugal, (ii) Banco Fonsecas, Santos & Viana (later Fonsecas & Burnay and today, BPI) and (iii) the Portuguese oil refining company Sacor (Sociedade Anónima Concessionária da Refinação de Petróleos em Portugal, S.A.R.L.). From 1978 he served as Chairman of the Audit Board of Banco de Portugal, a position he resigned in early 1993.
In 1987 he was named Chancellor of the orders of Civil Merit.
He was a member of merit of the National Academy of Fine Arts (Lisbon), an honorary member of the Lisbon Geographic Society, an Academic numerary of the International Academy of Portuguese Culture (Lisbon), Academic “honoris causa” of the Brazilian Academy of Fine Arts, Academic of “merit” of the Portuguese Academy of History, corresponding member of the Academy of Fine Arts of the Institute of France, corresponding member of the Arts Section of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, member of “Académie Européenne des Sciences, des Arts et des Lettres” (Paris) and member of honour of “Association Ethique et Politique”.
He was Governor of “Fondation Européenne de la Culture” (Amsterdam): Grand Benefactor of Casa de Portugal do Rio de Janeiro, etc.
José de Azeredo Perdigão’s reputation for being a brilliant lawyer led him to a meeting that would change his life: a meeting with Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian. A personal empathy between the two was immediate, although the preparations for the first meeting were somewhat problematic. In fact, Calouste Gulbenkian had sought refuge in Portugal, at the Hotel Aviz, in his search for peace and quiet that World War II did not give him in the other countries of Europe. He contacted Ambassador Caeiro da Mata to ask for the recommendation of a lawyer in Portugal, and the Ambassador in turn gave him the name of José de Azeredo Perdigão, due to his projection in the field of law in Portugal. Calouste Gulbenkian then asked the Ambassador to contact the lawyer to have him come to the Hotel Aviz for the first working meeting with Mr 5% of the oil companies. This put the Ambassador in an unenviable situation and the reply from José de Azeredo Perdigão was to the point: “It is the client who comes to the office of the lawyer and not the lawyer who goes to the house of the client!” And he didn’t go! This episode reveals the independence that must characterise the lawyer’s relationship with his clients, which was for José de Azeredo Perdigão the foundation stone of the law practice he engaged in and the principle that always guided his decisions and which – we are proud to say – he passed on to his successors in this law office he founded.
For José de Azeredo Perdigão, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was always more interesting to him as a friend and an art collector than as a client. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation was, therefore, truly a “Dream of Two”: Calouste Gulbenkian conceived the idea, Azeredo Perdigão brought it to pass.
José de Azeredo Perdigão, as attorney and personal friend of Calouste Gulbenkian, played a decisive and strategic role, both legally and diplomatically, in the establishment of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal, serving as Chairman of the Foundation from 1956 until his death. Today, this Foundation is the second largest in Europe. As Professor Ferrer Correia admitted: “Azeredo Perdigão was the real builder of the Calouste Gulbenkian Fundation.”
Having given up all his former activities, including, to his personal regret, the law practice that was such a passion for him, José de Azeredo Perdigão gave himself fully to the duties of Chairman of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. As a result, the Bar Association conferred on him the category of “honorary lawyer”.
In his book Calouste Gulbenkian, Coleccionador, he described the way in which this benefactor selected and acquired the works of art that made up his collection, which today is the patrimony of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. José de Azeredo Perdigão had an important role in this process, skilfully and intelligently succeeding in bringing to Lisbon Calouste Gulbenkian’s works of art that were scattered throughout his various places of residence in Europe.
He published his Relatório do Presidente (Chairman’s Report) for 1955-1978, presenting seven long and detailed accounts on the organisation, operation and activities of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. From that time onward, and always under his guidance, these Reports were annual and called Relatórios de Actividades da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Reports of Activities of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), the last one being published at the end of 1992, with reference to the previous year. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for 37 years, up to the time of his death.
José de Azeredo Perdigão held the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa, in Law, from the Universities of Coimbra, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo; in Letters from the University of Lisbon; in Arts from the Royal College of Arts of London; in Human Sciences from Southeastern University, Massachusetts (USA); in Humanities from the University of Sophia (Japan); and in Architecture from the Technical University of Lisbon. He also held an honorary doctorate from the University of Porto.
José de Azeredo Perdigão received the following meritorious medals, among others:
- Grand Cross of the Military Order of St. James and the Sword (Portugal) 1959
- Grand Official of the Order “Al Mérito della Republica Italiana” (1962)
- Grand Cross of the Order “del Mérito. Civil” (Spain) (1963)
- Grand Official of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1963)
- Commander of the National Order of the Cedar of Lebanon (1963)
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1964)
- Order “Star of Jordan” (Kawkab) 1st class (1964)
- “Honor Al Mérito Bernardo O’Higgins” (Chile) (1964)
- Grand Official of the Order “Al Mérito por Servicios Distinguidos” (Peru) (1965)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Cruzeiro do Sul (Brazil) (1966)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco (Brazil) (1966)
- Commander of the Legion of Honour (France) (1966)
- Civil Order of the Medal of “Rafidain”, 1st class (Iraq) (1966)
- Grand Official of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) (1967)
- “Prince Cilicie” of “Grande Maison du Catholicossat de Cilicie” (Armenian Orthodox Church of Sicily and Lebanon) (1967)
- Commander, with plaque, of the Order of St. Gregory, the Great (Vatican) (1968)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator (Portugal) (1969)
- Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alphonso X the Wise (Spain) (1970)
- Grand Cross “Pro-Mérito Melitensi” of the Sovereign Order of Malta (1971)
- Commander of the Order Houmagoun (Persia) (1973)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Senegal (1975)
- Commander, with plaque, of the Royal Order of St. Olav (Norway) (1978)
- Grand Collar of the Historical Institute of Brazil (1978)
- Grand Cross, (2nd class), of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1980)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Christ (Portugal) (1981)
- Order of the Flag of the People's Republic of Hungary, with Ruby (1982)
- Grand Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon (Iceland) (1983)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Flag (Yugoslavia) (1984)
- Grand Cross of the Real Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark) (1984)
- Order of the Sacred Treasure (2nd Degree) – Emperor of Japan (1985)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword (Portugal) (1985)
- Grand Cross of the Order de St. Sylvester (Vatican) (1985)
- Grand Cross of the Real Swedish Order of the Northern Star (1986)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Portugal) (1987)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (Spain) (1987)
- Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Italy) (1989)
José de Azeredo Perdigão was awarded the following medals:
- Gold Medal of the City of Viseu (1968)
- Gold Medal of the City of Bragança (1970)
- Gold Medal of the City of Santarém (1970)
- Medal of Honour (Gold) of the Lisbon Geographic Society (1972)
- Gold Medal of the Misericórdia Charity Hospital of Viseu (1972)
- Gold Medal of the City of Covilhã (1973)
- Gold Medal of the City of Aveiro (1973)
- Gold Medal of the City of Braga (1973)
- Medal of the City of Vila Franca de Xira (1973)
- Gold Medal of Gratitude of the Portuguese Royal Reading Room of Rio de Janeiro (1977)
- Gold Medal of “Société d’Encouragement au Progrès” (Paris) (1978)
- Gold Medal of the City of Tours (1978)
- Goethe Gold Medal (F.V.S. Foundation, of Hamburg) (1981)
- Medal of Honour of the City of Lisbon and Title of Citizen Benefactor (Lisbon City Hall) (1982)
- Medal of Honour of the City of Porto, in Gold (1983)
- Medal of 1st Honorary Lawyer of the Portuguese Bar Association (1985)
- Gold Viriathus (Highest award from the Municipality of Viseu, conferred by joint decision of the Town Hall and the Municipal Assembly – 1989)
Documents in honour of Dr José de Azeredo Perdigão:
