Luís Guerreiro, president of the Manuel Viegas Guerreiro Foundation, from Querença (Loulé), 56 years old, died this morning at the Hospital de Faro, victim of prolonged illness.
Born in Querença, Luis Manuel Mendes Guerreiro he had a degree in civil engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico, but had swapped numbers for letters many years ago.
When he finished his degree, he started to work at the Câmara de Loulé, in the Basic Sanitation Division, but, as his friend and journalist Idálio Revez wrote in an article in the Público newspaper, «shortly afterwards he changed the inspection of the city's pipes through the corridors of libraries and archives, descending into the underground of local culture».
In such a way that Joaquim Magalhães, former rector of the Liceu de Faro, I would call him “the engineer of letters”, an epithet that Luís Guerreiro, in the same article in Público, said was not good for his style. “I often say that I am a non-practicing engineer,” he explained.
Over the years, Luís Guerreiro has dedicated himself to research, especially on themes from the history of the Algarve. He also gathered, in his personal library, around two thousand books about the Algarve region.
Chairing the Manuel Viegas Guerreiro Foundation, which is based in his native Querença, he was also the main creator, two years ago, of the International Literary Festival of Querença (FLIQ). But many other projects have been developed by this Foundation, most of them in partnership with the University of Algarve.
Even already fighting the disease that would take him today, Luís Guerreiro was the author of proposal for the creation of a Digital Hemeroteca do Algarve, project submitted to Participatory Budget Portugal, in which you can still vote until the 15th of September.
For now, there is still no information about the location of the wake and funeral, but this information will be published here as soon as it is released.
O Sul Informação he expresses his deepest condolences to his family, friends and the Manuel Viegas Guerreiro Foundation for this great loss to Portuguese culture.
Biography of Luís Guerreiro:
Luís Manuel Mendes Guerreiro was born on September 4, 1960, in Querença. With a degree in Civil Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, in the 80s he joined the Basic Sanitation sector of the Municipality of Loulé, but soon his interests and his activity in the Municipality were directed towards areas related to Culture, Tourism or Communication.
He was responsible for the Tourism and Rural Development Office, between January 1990 and March 1991, when he was appointed Deputy to the then President of Loulé City Council, Joaquim Vairinhos.
In the exercise of these functions, he coordinated, by delegation of the President, a vast activity in the field of Culture, namely the Municipality's editorial policy, coordination of the Cultural Agenda, exhibitions, support to municipal associations, twinnings and other cultural initiatives.
As head of this Municipality, he was also Head of the President's Support Office (1997/99), Coordinator of the Press Office (1994 to 2002), Head of the Tourism, Development and Animation Division (1999/2004), Head of the Division of Culture (2004/2013) and Coordinator of the Events, Communication and Image Office (2013 to date).
He also carried out various activities in sociocultural associations: he was a member of the Installation Committee of the António Aleixo Foundation, he was Cooperator and President of the General Assembly of CEUPA – Cooperative for University Education of the Algarve, member of the board of the Círculo Teixeira Gomes and Technical Coordinator of the Sagres Candidacy for Heritage of Humanity.
He was also director, editorial manager and assiduous contributor to the newspaper “A Voz de Loulé”. Until now, he has been president of the Manuel Viegas Guerreiro Foundation, in Querença.
Researcher of regional and local History, he participated in several meetings and congresses and published numerous works, with emphasis on “Bibliography of the Municipality of Loulé” (co-authored with João Sabóia), “Loulé in the year of the Revolution” (XX Anniversary of the 25th of April ) or “Duarte Pacheco – The Builder”. It had one of the largest private documentary collections about the Algarve.
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