Adolfo Orsi

Adolfo Orsi (1888-1972) was an Italian industrialist from near Modena, known for owning the Maserati automobile maker. Born into a poor family, he began work young after his father died in 1899 and in the late 1920s built a business in scrap iron, steel and farm equipment that employed hundreds of people. He also ran the trolley company of Modena and, with his brother Marcello, a Fiat dealership. In 1937 he bought the financially troubled Maserati company, employed his son Omar as managing director and kept three of the Maserati brothers on ten-year engineering contracts. In 1940 he moved the headquarters from Bologna to Modena. In the 1950s Maserati prospered, hiring Juan Manuel Fangio, who won the Formula One championship for the marque in 1954 and 1957. Financial trouble after large machine tool orders from Argentina and Spain led to administration, and Orsi remained active in management until 1968, when he sold his remaining shares to Citroen.