Alberto Madruga da Costa

Alberto Madruga da Costa GC IH • GC M (15 April 1940 – 14 November 2014) was a businessman, former politician and President of the Legislative Assembly of the Azores from 1978-1979, and again in 1991-1995, including a brief span as President of the Government of the Azores, between 1995-1996.

Early life Alberto Romão Madruga da Costa was born in the civil parish of Matriz, municipality of Horta in 1940, son of Romão Nunes da Costa and Ema Clotilde Madruga da Silva Costa.

He attended the Liceu Nacional de Horta (National Lyceum of Horta), the national secondary school at that time from 1950 to 1955, before attending similar classes between 1955 and 1957 in Ponta Delgada, at the comparable Liceu Nacional de Ponta Delgada. During that time, he was the Vice-President (July 1976-November 1978), then President (November 1978 to September 1979), of the Legislative Assembly during the PSD governments, during two terms: 1978 to 1979, and later, 1991 to 1995. As well as Regional Secretary for Transport and Tourism (until October 1984) in the PSD government, between October 1985 and September 1991, he was, for various times, the parliamentary leader of his party in the assembly, before being re-elected President of the Legislative Assembly on 13 September 1991 (re-elected on 2 November 1992) until October 1995.

Presidency of the Azores He was briefly appointed President of the Regional Government of the Azores, following the resignation of Mota Amaral, from 20 October 1995 until 9 November 1996. His tenure was marked by an administration that was low-profile, with little public intervention. For his role as president he was appointed to the State Council, the Superior Council of National Defense, Superior Council for Internal Security and Superior Council for Information by the President of the Portuguese Republic.

Later life In June 1995 he was presented the Grande Cross of the Order of Merit, and later, in January 2010, he was bestowed the Grande Cross of the Order of the Infante Henrique. By unanimous decision of the Azorean Legislative Assembly, in plenary session on 11 May 2006, Madruga da Costa was presented the Autonomy Insignia of Valor for his contributions to Azorean autonomy.

He was appointed in a non-executive administrator position in the regional electric-producer EDA - Empresa de Electricidade dos Açores, as well as serving as director at the Correio da Horta, between March 2004 and the end of December 2005.