{"id":206887,"date":"2018-12-28T13:06:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=206887"},"modified":"2019-01-02T19:27:36","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T21:27:36","slug":"businessman-ueze-zahran-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/businessman-ueze-zahran-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Businessman Ueze Zahran dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Businessman Ueze Elias Zahran passed away on Thursday afternoon (27) in S\u00e3o Paulo, at age 94. A son to Lebanese parents, he was the owner of gas distribution company Copagaz and of television network Rede Matogrossense de Televis\u00e3o, comprising channels TV Morena and Centro Am\u00e9rica, which are Rede Globo affiliates in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso.<\/p>\n

Ueze was born in Bela Vista, in what is now the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in 1924. He was the second of six children of the Lebanese immigrants Elias and Laila Zahran. He is survived by wife Lucila, daughters M\u00e1rcia, Ana Karla and Simone, son Carlos Eduardo, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n

As a young man, Ueze worked in family establishments in Campo Grande \u2013 a caf\u00e9 and then a bakery. He started buying flour in S\u00e3o Paulo to resell in the city. That enabled him to raise cash for his future business endeavors. \u201cThis is where the Zahran Group began,\u201d he told the\u00a0Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s Trajet\u00f3rias<\/em> (Trajectories) project two years ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ueze Zahran em seu escrit\u00f3rio, em 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After giving a gas stove to his mother as a gift \u2013 regular gas distribution wasn\u2019t yet available in Campo Grande \u2013 he launched Copagaz, a gas bottling and distribution business, in 1955. The company is now a major industry player in Brazil. Early on, Copagaz used to also sell stoves.<\/p>\n

Copagaz bottles and distributes over 600,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (GLP) per year, grossing about BRL 1.8 billion a year. The fifth biggest player in the industry in Brazil, it retains a 7.81% market share, with 1,700 employees and spanning 18 states, plus the Federal District, according to information from the company itself.<\/p>\n

In 1965, he founded TV Morena and purchased ten TV sets to leave in the city square, since people didn\u2019t have TVs at home. At one point, he would assemble and sell Michigan-branded TV sets in the region. Later on, Ueze created TV Centro Am\u00e9rica, in Cuiab\u00e1. His channels are active in the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.<\/p>\n

Zahran would also breed cattle and Arabian horses out of his Chaparral farm in Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as do social work via his Zahran Foundation. In 2015, he was named a champion of the UN Millennium Development Goals.<\/p>\n

Trajectories<\/strong><\/p>\n

October 2016 saw the Arab Chamber honor the businessman under its Trajectories project<\/a>\u00a0(pictured at the top of this story)<\/em>, whose goal was to retrace the history of Arab immigration in Brazil and its contribution to national economic, social and cultural progress by honoring outstanding members of the community.<\/p>\n

A small book telling the Zahran\u2019s life story was released – Ueze Elias Zahran: the son of Lebanese parents who brought gas and TVs to Brazil\u2019s countryside.<\/p>\n

The wake was slated for this Friday morning (28) at S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Albert Einstein hospital. The body will be cremated early in the afternoon in a family-only ceremony.<\/p>\n

Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n

S\u00e9rgio Tomizaki\/ANBA<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A son to Lebanese parents, he founded gas distribution company Copagaz and TV channels TV Morena and Centro Am\u00e9rica, in Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. Two years ago, he was honored by Arab Chamber project Trajectories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1454,"featured_media":206881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3066],"tags":[439,4639,6702,6707,6704,6703,6701],"class_list":{"0":"post-206887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-society","8":"tag-arab-chamber","9":"tag-camara-arabe-en","10":"tag-copagaz","11":"tag-trajectories","12":"tag-tv-centro-america","13":"tag-tv-morena","14":"tag-ueze-zahran"},"wps_subtitle":"A son to Lebanese parents, he founded gas distribution company Copagaz and TV channels TV Morena and Centro Am\u00e9rica, in Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. Two years ago, he was honored by Arab Chamber project Trajectories.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}