Remembering Pier Francesco Forleo: Head of Rai’s Sports Rights Department Passed Away at 62

Pier Francesco Forleo died last night at the age of 62. husband of Elisabetta Ferracinidaughter of the presenter Mara Venier. Head of the Sports Rights Department of Rai. He was a much loved executive, they called him “The Prince” for his always kind ways of him. The announcement of Forleo’s death was made this morning by the President of Rai Marinella Soldi and by the managing director Roberto Sergio.

“Pier, you have been a wonderful son-in-law. You have brought only joy and love to our family… and I loved you like a son…”. wrote Mara Venier on Instagram. Adding: “We are all annihilated all too fast. Rip”.

Andrea Vianello, journalist and TV face remembers him like this: “Waking up with the terrible news that a great manager of Rai, good, respectable and full of life, Pier Forleo, is no longer there. He was a friend. We called him the Prince, due to his natural elegance. He knew how to live and knew how to work: a talent of few. Close to Elizabeth”.

Rai’s note “An impeccable professional, with a solid and varied professional experience, he has been a point of reference for years in the crucial sports rights sector of our company. We will miss not only his great ability to analyze and manage complex financial and managerial aspects, but his special human figure. Affable and elegant, he was always capable of a profitable team game, to the great benefit of the company and all of his colleagues, whose best features he was able to bring out, motivating them and helping them to grow. Our thoughts and condolences to the family members and those of the entire company”

Born in Florence in 1962, a graduate in Economics and Commerce, joined Rai in 1997, after having worked in the Planning and Control Department of IRI. In Rai he had been part of the Reporting and Operational Control structure in the Administration, Finance and Control Department. He was subsequently called upon to fill the role of controller of the Radio Division and in 2006 appointed director of Purchasing, operationally coordinating the Public Procurement Code in corporate purchasing processes since 2010. Since March 2015 he held the role of director of the Sports Rights Department and member of the Sports Rights Committee and the Sports Right Assembly of the EBU.