Aurelio Peccei

Aurelio Peccei (Italian pronunciation: [auˈrɛːljo petˈtʃɛi]; 4 July 1908 in Turin, Piedmont – 14 March 1984, in Rome) was an Italian scholar and industrialist, best known as co-founder with Alexander King (scientist) and first president of the Club of Rome - an organisation which raised considerable public attention in 1972 with its report The Limits to Growth.

He was born on 4 July 1908 in Turin, the capital of the Piedmont region of Italy. He spent his youth there, eventually graduating from the University of Turin with a degree in economics in 1930. Soon thereafter he went to the Sorbonne with a scholarship and was awarded a free trip to the Soviet Union.

His knowledge of other languages brought him to Fiat S.p.A.. Although under continual suspicion as an anti-fascist in the early 1930s, in 1935 a successful mission for Fiat in China established his position in Fiat management.

During World War II, Peccei became involved in the anti-fascist movement and in the resistance, where he was a member of the "Giustizia e Libertà". Peccei's work with the anti-fascist underground during the war caught up with him in 1944, when he was arrested, imprisoned, tortured, came within an ace of execution and escaped to lie in hiding until the liberation.

After the war, Peccei was engaged in the rebuilding of Fiat. Furthermore, he was engaged in various private and public efforts then underway to rebuild Italy, including the founding of Alitalia.

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