It can be said that Walduck Wanderley was what the Americans have termed as a “self-made man” – a man that grew thanks to his own personal merit.

A son to Flammarion and Raimunda Wanderley, farmers, Walduck was born on 12th of July 1932, in the locality of Montes Claros, northern Minas Gerais, where he spent his childhood in the company of another nine siblings. A born entrepreneur,  as soon as he finished high school, in Rio de Janeiro, he bought a tractor, in installments, from the Ministry of Agriculture, and returned to his home town, with the intention of providing services to other farmers in his area. It was with this small tractor and with his broad outlook on the future that he established Cowan in a shed next door to the Montes Claros Sports Center, where he set in train one of the largest Brazilian conglomerates of the moment.

Those who had the privilege of living and working with Walduck describe him as a fascinating man; a manifold man: the entrepreneur of unbounded energy, who was respected for his competence, leadership skills and wisdom to respond to professional challenges; the man whose passion was aviation; a shoulder to cry on; the generous man, proud of his origins.

Yes, besides being a forward-looking entrepreneur, Walduck was a humanitarian. As a provider of Santa Casa de Caridade, the Mercy Hospital of Montes Claros, he remodeled the whole hospital, opening the ward Flammarion Wanderley, equipped with a state-of-the-art operating theater and an Intensive Care Unit. A lover of the arts, Walduck collected pictures by famous painters, some of which he donated to museums to share their beauty with the general public.

He founded and headed 20 companies linked to the Cowan group, in the fields of civil construction, engineering, mining, agriculture, cattle farming, finance, realty, public transport, telecommunications, sanitation and roads. He received 24 commendations and awards in recognition for his achievements and philanthropic deeds, among them the Grande Medalha da Inconfidência do Estado de Minas Gerais, the Medalha de Honra de Montes Claros, the Diploma de Mérito Industrial, by Fiemg, the Ordem do Mérito Legislativo de Minas Gerais and the Ordem do Mérito Aeronáutico, as a Commendatore. He died on 27th of December 2004, at 72, leaving his example to the generations after him.