[vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTNDYSUyMG5hbWUlM0QlMjJndWlkby12ZW5vc3RhJTIyJTNFJTNDJTJGYSUzRQ==[\/vc_raw_html][vc_single_image image=”65096″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_column_text]Guido Venosta, born in 1911, graduated in Economics from Cambridge at St. John\u2019s College, where he studied under John Maynard Keynes, and in Law at Pavia.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”66023″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”][vc_single_image image=”66024″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”][vc_column_text]He was the most introverted of the three Venosta brothers. During the war, he had served as a cavalry captain. He worked at Pirelli \u2013 where his father, Giuseppe, the \u201crenowned Pirelli engineer,\u201d had been Central Director and Board Member \u2013 throughout his entire professional life, from 1939 to 1977. During this period, he held high-profile positions both in Italy and in Great Britain, where he was assigned, for seven years from 1956 to 1963, as head of Pirelli Ltd, the English branch of the company headquartered in London [1].<\/p>\n
Upon returning to Italy, in 1966 he was commissioned by Franco Brambilla, then CEO of Pirelli, to collaborate with researchers from the Milan Cancer Institute to launch the Italian Association for Cancer Research (today the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research \u2013 AIRC), which had been founded the previous year by Umberto Veronesi and Giuseppe Della Porta, with the support of Aldo Borletti and Camilla Falck.<\/strong><\/p>\n He then began working full-time for the association with great dedication and enthusiasm \u2013 especially since his mother, Argia, like his father Giuseppe, had died of cancer \u2013 sharing a small office with two colleagues while developing AIRC. Under his leadership, AIRC became the largest private funding body in Italy for cancer research.<\/strong><\/p>\n Fundraising initiatives that made history in the nonprofit world \u2013 such as \u201cOranges for Health<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cAzaleas for Research<\/strong>,\u201d which were sold in public squares on Mother\u2019s Day \u2013 owe their origin to the work carried out by his grandfather within the association. He served first as vice president and then as president from 1976 to 1996<\/strong>.<\/p>\n He was also responsible for the creation and organization of AIRC\u2019s Regional Committees<\/strong>, one of the strengths of what had become a foundation that, first under his visionary leadership and later by continuously adapting his work to the changing times, raised hundreds of millions of euros to fight a terrible scourge.<\/p>\n In parallel to AIRC, in 1982 my grandfather founded the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research (FIRC)<\/strong>, the \u201cstronghold\u201d of AIRC, an asset-based institution designed to secure the future of oncological research beyond the financial flow from membership fees.<\/p>\n As president of FIRC, he promoted and realized three highly significant initiatives, among others:<\/p>\n Returning to the association, the figures speak for themselves: during his presidency, AIRC reached 1,700,000 members (the highest in Italy among nonprofit organizations), disbursed 285 billion lire for research, and awarded over 2,500 scholarships amounting to more than 25 billion lire. FIRC could count on an asset base of around 100 billion lire.<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2021, AIRC and FIRC merged<\/strong>, and the figures from the latest financial report of the AIRC Foundation are truly impressive: 17 Regional Committees, 20,000 volunteers, 4,500,000 members<\/strong>, and an asset base of 137 million euros<\/strong>. In the era of immediate, global communication, he made sure that its presence was felt on every possible channel: over 13,000,000 website visitors, more than 1,100,000 subscribers and followers on the main social media platforms, a significant presence in traditional media such as print, television, and radio, and the use of cutting-edge technologies like podcasts and YouTube webinars that garnered thousands of views, interviews, and citations [3].<\/p>\n Milan rewarded him with the \u201cAmbrogino d\u2019Oro<\/strong>\u201d, enshrining him among the city\u2019s and nation\u2019s distinguished citizens in the Monumentale\u2019s Hall of Fame<\/strong>, and in 2003, a street \u2013 an alley off Viale Sarca \u2013 was dedicated to him<\/strong>, with the plaque commemorating his role as a \u201cpioneer of the nonprofit sector<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n In a letter from Salvatore Carrubba, the assessor for \u201cculture, museums, and international relations<\/strong>\u201d of the City of Milan confirming the street\u2019s dedication, he is described as the \u201cillustrious founder of the Association for Cancer Research.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf Italian oncological research is now at the international forefront, a great credit is due to Guido Venosta<\/em>.\u201d\n
\n\u2013 Umberto Veronesi and Giuseppe Della Porta, Fondamentale, April 5, 1998[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”66018″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image”][vc_column_text]Guido Venosta also received other important awards and recognitions, including:<\/p>\n