Beppe Croce

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Andrea Giuseppe Croce
Beppe Croce chairing a meeting in Kiel on sailing at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Born(1914-12-11)11 December 1914
Genoa, Italy
Died16 September 1986(1986-09-16) (aged 71)
Portofino, Italy
Occupation(s)Sailor, yachtsman
Spouse
Countess Umberta Raggio
​
​
(before 1986)​
ChildrenLuigi, Carlo, and Manuela
Military career
AllegianceItaly

Andrea Giuseppe "Beppe" Croce (Genoa 11 December 1914 – Portofino 16 September 1986) was a sailor and yachtsman from Genoa, Italy.

Biography

In 1939 Croce won the Italian University Star Class championship. He also won the 1969 5.50 class Italian Championship on Lake Garda, where three years earlier he had won the Centomiglia regatta (finished by only three out of fifty participant boats, due to very severe weather conditions).

Beppe served as an army officer during

Nazis as a liberal partisan
.

From 1946 to 1980, Beppe served as president of Lloyd Italico, an insurance company founded by his grandfather.

Croce also competed in the

6 metre class at the 1948 Summer Olympics and contributed organizing the 1960 Naples sailing Olympics as the president of the Olympic Committee.[1]

In 1952, together with his friend René Levainville, Croce founded the famous

maxi yachts
.

Croce played also a key role in the organization of the 1982 Azzurra America's Cup Challenge, the first Italian America's Cup challenge. Financed by his friend and former Fiat president, Gianni Agnelli, the boat competed under the patronage of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

From 1969 to his death in 1986, Croce was the first non-British president of the

Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano
(CONI).

In memory of Beppe Croce, since 1989 the International Sailing Federation annually awards its ISAF Beppe Croce Trophy to an individual who has made an outstanding voluntary contribution to the sport of sailing.[2]

During his life Croce assembled a unique collection of Yacht Portrait Paintings from 1800, which adorned the walls of his house in

Galata Museo del Mare more than 100 paintings from such collection, which are now permanently displayed at the museum's Beppe Croce Gallery.[3]

Personal life

Married to Countess Umberta Raggio, Croce had three sons, Luigi, Carlo and Manuela and several grandsons and great-grandsons.

Following in his father's footsteps, Beppe's son Carlo has been President of the ISAF -

Fiv - Italian Sailing Federation from 2009 to 2016. He was President of the Yacht Club Italiano
(since 1997).

References

  1. IOC olympics.com. Archived
    from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Beppe Croce Trophy". World Sailing. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Beppe Croce Gallery". Promotori Musei del Mare. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beppe Croce.
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