Eliezer Batista

Eliezer Batista
Batista as Minister of Mines and Energy
President of Vale S.A.
In office 1979–1986
Minister of Ministry of Mines and Energy
In office 1 January 1962 – 31 December 1984
Personal details
Born	Eliezer Batista da Silva (1924-05-04)4 May 1924 Nova Era, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Died	18 June 2018(2018-06-18) (aged 94) Hospital Samaritano, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Spouse	Jutta Fuhrken ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 2009)​ Inguelore Scheunemann ​ ​ (m. 2009)​
Children	7, including Eike
Alma mater	Federal University of Parana
Occupation	Businessman engineer politician

Eliezer Batista da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: [eliˈɛzeɾ baˈtʃistɐ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ]; 4 May 1924 – 18 June 2018) was a Brazilian businessman, engineer and politician. In 1979, he was appointed president of Vale do Rio Doce, a multinational metals and mining corporation headquartered in Brazil, and within six years, increased the company's annual profits from $36 million to $920 million.^[1] Today, Vale S.A. is the largest producer of iron ore and nickel worldwide.

He was the father of former billionaire Eike Batista, once the richest man in the world.^[2][3] Batista served as Minister to the Ministry of Mines and Energy from 1962 to 1984.

Batista was born 4 May 1924 in Nova Era, Minas Gerais, to José Batista da Silva and Maria da Natividade Pereira, both of whom were of Portuguese descent. He received a degree in civil engineering from the Federal University of Paraná in 1948.^[4]

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Batista was married to Jutta Fuhrken, a native of Hamburg, Germany, with whom he had seven children, including Eike Batista. In 2009, he divorced her and subsequently remarried to Inguelore Scheunemann, a dentist and former professor and rectoress at the Federal University of Pelotas, also of German origin.