João van Zeller (author)

Joao van Zeller (full name, Joao Guilherme Andresen van Zeller) was born in Porto, Portugal, on the 15th of October 1941, where he attended the official State Primary School. Following the initial five years at Liceu D. Manuel II, he finished High School at Liceu Alexandre Herculano, both in Porto, subsequently obtaining a Law Degree at the University of Lisbon.
== Career ==
While at University, and as from 1963, he worked in Lisbon at the Foreign Press Department of Secretariado Nacional de Informação (Ministry of Information and Tourism) and appointed in 1967 Head of the Press, Radio and Television Services of Angola, where he also practiced law in the capital, Luanda. He returned to Portugal in 1970.
The same year he started his banking career in Lisbon, returning to Angola in 1972 as Managing Director of Banco Inter Unido, a joint venture of two leading American and Portuguese banks.
Following the collapse of the Portuguese presence in Angola in 1975, after a period with Citibank in New York, he moved to London, where he joined Grindlays Bank. As from the end of 1976 he took responsibilities in Sovereign Risk Project and Eurocurrency Financing in Latin America and Iberia. After initiating the operations of the Grindlays Bank Group in Madrid, Spain, in 1984 he became Director General of Banco Real SA España, a leading Brazilian bank with a strong presence in Europe.
While in Spain, he was invited to join the Spanish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce as Deputy Chairman, and the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, also as Deputy Chairman. He was a representative of Banco Real as member of the Spanish Association of Private Banks until 1987. With a small group of enthusiasts, he supported the foundation of the Association of Friends of the Prado Museum, which in 2019 reached 45.000 members. 
Still in Spain, and through a management consultancy company set up in 1987, he was involved with finance, aviation, shipping and energy Projects.
He returned to Portugal in 1992 to promote, as founder shareholder, a finance company with a view to set up an Investment Bank. The major shareholder was one of the big British clearing banks, which two years later merged with a larger player which, having lost interest in the Portuguese market, brought the Portuguese company to an end.
In 1992 Joao van Zeller was involved with the foundation of TVI, a free to air TV Project, which later became the cornerstone of a group leading the Portuguese media industry. Between 2004 and 2005, and in connection with this Project, he became Chairman of the Portuguese Media Confederation, which associates around 600 press, radio and television companies. The company was sold in 2005 to a Spanish media group, a transaction that he publicly opposed. 
Since his arrival in Portugal he was also associated with a family wine project in the Douro region, Quinta de Roriz Vinhos SA, which control he subsequently acquired in 1999. Shortly after, he joined the Consultancy Board of the Institute of Port and Douro Wines, a government regulator. He was a founder and remains to date on the board of the Foundation of the Douro Museum. 
In 2009 Joao van Zeller decided to sell the wine business to one of the largest wine Douro operators, whose shareholders are his relatives, becoming more attached to charity work, an area where he had been active since 1992.
== Articles and books ==
He started writing articles of general interest early in his career for a number of titles, namely “Diário Popular”, “A Voz” and “Itinérarires”. Later he became a columnist with “Revista Turismo” and “Diário de Notícias”, writing also in “Jornal de Notícias”, “Notícias Magazine”, “Diário Económico”, “Grande Reportagem”, “Revista de Golf” and “Revista Jardins”. In recent years he has seen his articles often published by the online newspaper, “Observador”. He also has articles on economy signed on publications such as “Jornal de Negócios”, and “Papeles de Economia Española”. He has texts on religious matters published on “Brotéria”, a Jesuit monthly magazine.
In 2011 Joao van Zeller was co-editor of a book on the 250-year history of his family Douro estate “Quinta de Roriz, História de Uma Quinta no Coração do Douro” (“Quinta de Roriz, History of an Estate in the heart of Douro”, edited by Edições Afrontamento, and written by Professor Gaspar Martins Pereira, of the Porto University.
In 2019, and also published by Edições Afrontamento, Joao van Zeller wrote his youth memoirs in the city of Porto, a book entitled “Johnny Boy, Porto Anos 40 & 50”. 
==In the media==
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== References ==
==External links==
* João van Zeller - WOOK
* João van Zeller - Bertrand Booksellers - Online bookstore
* Rui Moreira, José Miguel Júdice e João van Zeller juntos numa “viagem” pela Cidade Invicta
* News - Northern Culture Regional Directorate
* Presentation of the book “Johnny Boy, Porto Anos 40-50"
* Book about Porto from the 40s and 50s motivates reflection
Category:1941 births
Category:University of Lisbon alumni
Category:Law degrees
Category:People from Porto District
Category:Portuguese writers
Category:Portuguese literature
Category:Economy
Category:Banks
Category:Finance
Category:Portugal
Category:Wine
Category:Books
Category:Newspapers
Category:Television
Category:Literature