Journalist and publicist Mauro Salles dies at 90

Journalist and publicist Mauro Salles died on Saturday (11) in São Paulo. He was 90 years old and admitted to Albert Einstein Hospital.

Born in Recife and trained in law at PUC in Rio de Janeiro, Mauro worked for the newspaper O Globo for 11 years. He even held the position of editor-in-chief. He also worked at TV Globo. He was director of Journalism and Programming at the station.

In 1966, Salles left TV Globo to invest in advertising. Alongside Luiz Sales, his brother, he led Salles / Interamericana, one of the main companies in the sector in the country in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Mauro Salles was a great pioneer in the communication industry, a great entrepreneur”, says Luiz Lara, president of Lew Lara and the Advertising Market Self-Regulation Forum (Cenp) and chairman of TBWA. “Salles was a huge storehouse of advertisers.”

“I’ve always been passionate about advertising and a big fan of people who have a passion for this craft. Mauro Salles was certainly one of these professionals. One of the pioneers in the area, he paved the way in our profession when everything was bush. His trajectory tells a large part of the history of our industry. He left an invaluable legacy. It will be missed and beautiful memories”, says Luiz Sanches, Chief Creative Officer of BBDO North America and chairman/partner of AlmapBBDO.

Mauro Salles also ventured into public life. In the 1960s, he was invited to be secretary of the Council of Ministers of the parliamentary cabinet during the period in which Tancredo Neves took over as prime minister.