José De Queiroz

José De Queiroz (born August 9, 1954) is a Portuguese-born, Swiss amateur astronomer and discoverer of minor planets, as well as a restaurant manager in Falera in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.

Queiroz was born in Lisbon. In 1956 the family moved to Braga in northern Portugal, where José frequented school. Once graduated from a technical school, he then studied chemistry at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia in Porto. After the Carnation Revolution, José no longer felt at ease in Portugal and left the country in summer of 1974 for Switzerland.

Thanks to his knowledge of languages he found a job in Ormont-Dessus, in a holiday home as a caregiver for children of wealthy parents from all over the world. After a year, however, he started to work in the tourism industry. Following several years of working as a waiter in various hotels in the canton of Vaud and in the Bernese Oberland he came to Lenzerheide in the Grisons, where he worked at the hotel "Guardaval Sporz". At the same time he attended the Hotel Management School of Alpine Hotel Management and graduated as hotel assistant manager. In Lenzerheide he also got to know Ladina Jezek from the Engadin, whom he married in 1985. Soon after, he was naturalized as Swiss citizen of Zernez, the hometown of his wife.

After his graduation, the couple moved in the same year to Falera in the Surselva, where José was for two years assistant manager at the hotel "La Siala". In 1986 the daughter Marcia was born and a year later the couple took over the restaurant "Prau la Selva" in Flims. In December 1989, De Queiroz leased in Falera the restaurant "Casa Seeli". In 2005 it was sold and the new owner wanted operate the restaurant himself. Shortly afterwards, José De Queiroz leased the restaurant "Encarna" in Falera, which he manages until today.

In Falera, José De Queiroz became interested in astronomy. In the autumn of 1999, he observed the night sky for the first time with a small telescope from his terrace. He started to study all by himself; the telescopes became bigger.

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