On November 1st, 2023 – All Saints’ Day – Mr. Pedro Pereira Coutinho Teixeira Duarte died, a fact that leaves the Company and each of the many who were touched – directly and indirectly – by him in mourning.
But he also leaves the saudade (missing) and – with it – the desire to do more and better, inspired by his journey.
He left at the age of 105 and with more than 105 descendants. A family man, a Gentleman in and for the Company and all those who worked in it. A unique figure as a person, as an engineer, as a professional, as a leader and as a businessman.
Born on August 24th, 1918, in Lourinhã, Pedro Pereira Coutinho Teixeira Duarte was the second of three brothers born to Engineer Ricardo Esquível Teixeira Duarte, who was responsible for the beginning of Teixeira Duarte’s activity in 1921.
Engineering was in the blood and the Company was almost a little sister.
Thus, and after a childhood and youth lived in Lisbon, he graduated in Civil Engineering, from Instituto Superior Técnico, in 1946, being a Specialist Engineer in Geotechnics, a title granted by Ordem dos Engenheiros (Engineering Council).
With this training, which was also linked to the genesis and activity of the company – which at that time was called “Empresa de Sondagens e Fundações Teixeira Duarte, Lda.” – Eng. Pedro Teixeira Duarte held several positions in the operational structures of Teixeira Duarte, from Director of Drilling Works, to Director of Works and collaborator in Studies and Projects in the area of Geotechnics and Foundation Engineering, to Director of the Drilling Sector and later Director of the Machinery and Equipment Park and Workshop.
With the death of his father in 1959, he assumed the position of Manager and General Director of the Company, which he would hold until 1987, when Teixeira Duarte became Teixeira Duarte – Engenharia e Construções, S.A., having Eng. Pedro Teixeira Duarte become Chairman of the Board of Directors until 2008, when at the age of 90, he ceased to hold any management or operational function in the Company’s structures.
Simultaneously and also until that time, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the family’s company, of which the family maintained the central core shareholders of the Company since its constitution until the present day, including since the listing in 1998.
Since 1987, his son Pedro Maria Calainho Teixeira Duarte has held the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Company, having succeeded him as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company and the Group in 2008, a position that is currently held by Manuel Maria Teixeira Duarte since October 8th, 2021.
During his years of leadership, he bet, promoted and encouraged several colleagues who worked with him for decades at the top of the Company and the Group, namely Eng. Silvério Antunes Coelho, Eng. Marques Dionísio and Dr. Manuel Ferreira.
God had, from the beginning and until the end, a very relevant role in his life and way of living it, as well as in his business posture, having even been president of the Christian Association of Entrepreneurs and Managers (ACEGE) in a troubled period of the post-April 25, assuming with courage and determination the paths that he believed to be the right ones regardless of the circumstances.
He always wanted the Company to have an impactful relationship with “others” and to be a partner in its area of expertise for the way it collaborated with public entities in relevant projects and studies – including the exceptional cooperation relationship with the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering – as well as promoting the study and teaching of these topics, holding several cycles of lessons and conferences on matters of Geotechnics and Foundation Engineering, for the connections he always maintained with Ordem dos Engenheiros (Engineering Association), and also for the way, in which in his activity, he dealt with customers, suppliers, employees and competitors, having been part of associations in the construction sector from a very early age – Teixeira Duarte continues to be a member of AICCOPN.
Notwithstanding and despite the enormous growth that the Company has had and the economic Group born from its engineering genesis – today with 9,500 employees, in 22 countries, operating in 6 different sectors – he always maintained a discreet, focused and follow-up posture of the Company’s issues, and until the end of his life he was participating in the events commemorating the life of Teixeira Duarte.
He also marked the Company by living throughout decades those which are its values: Ingenuity, Truth and Commitment and allowed many to continue to do so today, contributing to the construction of a better world: Teixeira Duarte’s mission.
In 2006, he was awarded the rank of Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator by the President of the Republic, Jorge Sampaio.
Without prejudice to this recognition by the highest figure of the Portuguese State, Engineer Pedro Teixeira Duarte leaves strong marks on several generations:
As a Person, what we hear most is that he was very human, a family man, honest, empathetic, highly educated and highly reserved, he was a serene, attentive, humble and available man;
As an Engineer, he was recognized for his passion for science, the application of science to practice; ingenuity, creativity, innovation and the taste for seeing these characteristics in others, giving them opportunities for such creation and novelty;
As a Professional, his behaviour led by truth, rigour, attention to listening to colleagues, humility, willingness to learn, without fear of delegating to those he recognized as capable, without ever shirking responsibility; he was also very available and a perfectionist;
As a Leader, he led by example and humility, fostering admiration and respect of all and, in this way, a confidence and willingness to join him in the designs he took on and in the challenges he led and made others lead Teixeira Duarte to;
As an Entrepreneur, he was a man of his word, of commitment, with a sense of mission, who wanted an ethical company, focused on the persons, the employability and the sense of the collective above the individual.
These are some of the piles with which he set the foundations of his Family, his profession, his leadership, the company, building exceptional relationships of enormous respect, esteem, gratitude, empathy, admiration, inspiration and, above all, humanity and professionalism, which together with his exceptional longevity made him a unique figure in national engineering and, above all, to all of us, the pride of being able to call him “our” President and, also in this way, to make him present and thus, together, continue to contribute to the construction of a better Teixeira Duarte!
Thank you, Engineer Pedro Teixeira Duarte!
