As a civil engineer and public administrator, Saul Rise cannot help but be remembered for his long list of achievements and work, but those who knew him more closely emphasize his sweet, kind personality and are always ready to provide valuable advice. He died on December 3 at the age of 91 from complications of Alzheimer’s.
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Ana Maria Petruzziello Cohane, a friend of more than 40 years and one of the last people to visit Sol, with already undermined health, considered him a second father. She recalls that her helpfulness and good humor in her personal life complemented the honesty known in public life. “He was more reserved about what he accomplished as a politician, but he had stories that he was proud of,” she says. One of his favorites was the caravan of taxi drivers that accompanied him to the airport when his term as mayor of Curitiba ended and he moved to São Paulo. The category respected him very much.
Saul Rise was the firstborn of a couple of Polish immigrants.
The son of Polish Jewish immigrants, Saul was the first of the couple’s two children born in Curitiba. The family settled in the city in 1928 and traded in clothes and fabrics, then fruits and vegetables, and finally opened a furniture store in which the younger worked as a porter. The boy, who played naked on the then quiet Avenue de Setembro, entered the Colégio Estadual do Paraná and studied engineering at the Federal University of Paraná in 1948. The father was a teacher in Poland and the number one priority for him and his wife was the education of their children. They trained a doctor and an engineer who helped change the place they chose to live.
His first job was as a topographer at the mayor’s office and later as head of the city planning department. Thanks to this work, he knew the city like the back of his hand. This period was marked by the City Zoning Act and the Curitiba Municipal Market Project. Then, in the early 1960s, he transferred to the Paraná Highway Department (DER). He fondly recalled Nei Braga’s engineer-led campaign for the state government with a door-to-door approach and direct contact with voters.
The portfolio includes the construction of Rodovia do Café
He was responsible for the construction of the Rodovia do Café with the aim of connecting the northwest region of the state with the coast, contributing to the development of the state. He was also part of the government of Paulo Pimentel, but decided to leave due to differences that would later be resolved between them. In the private sector, Saul ran the Klabin industry for ten years, worked for the Prosdócimo group and headed its engineering office.
Despite the new zoning of the city and the sewers of the Belém River, which freed Curitiba from constant flooding at the Centro and Civic Center, are widely recognized as the highlights of his tenure as mayor – from 1975 to 1979, appointed by Governor Jaime Cané. Junior – the legacy he was most proud of was an incentive to respect teachers, in addition to creating a community school structure in the neighborhood that he said could be a model for the country and continues to sprout that day.
The politician Saul Rise has worked with Ney Braga and Jaime Lerner.
During Nei Braga’s other term as governor in 1981, he was Secretary of Municipal Development, focusing on the development of medium-sized cities in the state such as Cascavel, Patu Branco, Apukarana and others. In 1982 he ran for government but was defeated by Jose Ritchie. Sol was also responsible for Southern Brazil in the World Bank Transport and Policy Integration Group. In the 1990s, he coordinated two campaigns for Jaime Lerner. More recently, he has chosen to focus on the private sector and limit public action to rare consultations with administrators who require his expertise and foresight.
One who fondly recalls his advice is councilor Pierre Petruzziello, who reached out to the former mayor about a decade ago before running for his first election. In response, he received the support of the thoughtful Saul, who invited him to think a lot before making a decision. “People like him, who were ahead of their time and saw the city for decades to come, deserve a lot of attention. For us, young politicians, there remains a loss of a standard and at the same time a legacy to which we must look, reflect and be inspired, ”Pierre comments.
