Silvio Santos

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Silvio Santos
Santos, c. 1970
Born	Senor Abravanel ben Alberto (1930-12-12)12 December 1930 Rio de Janeiro, Federal District, Brazil
Died	17 August 2024(2024-08-17) (aged 93) São Paulo, Brazil
Occupations	Television host media mogul
Years active	1965–2024
Title	Chairman and founder of Grupo Silvio Santos
Spouses	Maria Aparecida Vieira ​ ​ (m. 1962; died 1977)​ Íris Abravanel ​ (m. 1979)​
Children	6, including Patricia
Relatives	Tiago Abravanel (grandson) Fábio Faria (son-in-law) Alexandre Pato (son-in-law)
Signature

Silvio Santos, stage name of Senor Abravanel ben Alberto^[1] (Hebrew: סניור אברבנאל;^[2] 12 December 1930 – 17 August 2024),^[3] was a Brazilian television presenter and businessman, widely regarded as the greatest personality in the history of telecommunications in Brazil.^[4][5][6]

Silvio began his career in communication on radio broadcasting, later arriving on television, where he established himself as a central figure in Brazilian entertainment for more than six decades, winning the affection of the public and expanding his business, through the founding of the Grupo Silvio Santos. Throughout his life, he was also involved in other areas such as music and politics.^[7]

Born in Lapa, Rio de Janeiro,^[2][8] the former capital city of Brazil and former headquarters of the Federal District, Silvio was the eldest son of a couple of Sephardic Jews who migrated to Brazil in 1924, Alberto Abravanel^[2] and Rebeca Caro. Working as a hawker, salesman and also on the radio, Silvio debuted on television in the early 1960s as the host of Vamos Brincar de Forca, broadcast by TV Paulista, which later became Programa Silvio Santos, a grouping of several auditorium and sketch programs, which was extremely successful in Brazil. Later, he became the owner of Grupo Silvio Santos, a conglomerate whose companies include Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (most known as SBT, the second largest television networks in Brazil), Liderança Capitalização, Jequiti and TV Alphaville. His net worth was estimated at $1.3 billion in 2013, making him the only Brazilian celebrity on Forbes' billionaires list.^[9][10]

Silvio never officially retired, but he left television in 2022, when, in September, he made his last recording as a presenter, aired the following year. In July 2024, he was hospitalized with H1N1 and was discharged two days later. However, he died of bronchopneumonia on 17 August 2024, at the age of 93, after being hospitalized again with the same disease. Silvio was buried on the morning of 18 August, at the Butantã Israelite Cemetery, in São Paulo.

Silvio had six daughters, fourteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In his first marriage, to Maria Aparecida Vieira, most known as Cidinha, he had his first two daughters, Cintia (mother of actor Tiago Abravanel) and Silvia. The couple was together until 1977 when Cidinha died of cancer. Santos married for the second time to Íris Abravanel in 1981, with whom he remained until the end of his life and had four other daughters, Daniela, Patricia, Rebeca and Renata.^[11][12] Santos received several awards and honors, including almost thirty Imprensa trophies, sixteen Internet trophies and ten Roquette Pinto trophies,^[13] in addition to being honored with the Order of Merit for Communication by former president Dilma Rousseff^[14] and honored by carnival blocks.^[15][16]