José Hermano Saraiva

José Hermano Saraiva GCIH • GCIP (3 October 1919 – 20 July 2012) was a Portuguese professor, historian and jurist. He was most known as a television personality in Portugal, having been the author and presenter of several documentary series of historical divulgation from 1971 to 2003 on the Portuguese television.

Biography Hermano Saraiva was a professor of law and business management. He was Minister of Education of Portugal between 1968 and 1970 and ambassador to Brazil between 1972 and 1974, during the Estado Novo dictatorship. He lectured in the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Política Ultramarina at the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, and in private teaching institutes.

Saraiva is most famous in Portugal, but also among Portuguese communities around the world, on account of his television programs on the History of Portugal, broadcast by RTP. He was a member of the Sciences Academy of Lisbon, Portuguese Academy of History and São Paulo Historical Institute in Brazil.

Hermano Saraiva was distinguished with the Grã-Cruz of the Order of Public Instruction, Grã-Cruz of the Order of Prince Henry, the Grã-Cruz of the Order of Barão do Rio Branco of Brazil, the Grã-Cruz of the Ordem do Mérito do Trabalho and the Comendador da Real Ordem de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Vila Viçosa.

He enjoyed wide popularity and success as a television communicator whose television programs devoted to the History of Portugal, namely O Tempo e a Alma (1971), Gente de Paz (1978) and Horizontes da Memória (1996-2003) on RTP state-run television channels, reached a large audience among the Portuguese population and the Portuguese expat communities outside Portugal.

Personal life Hermano Saraiva was born in Leiria, the third of the six sons of José Leonardo Venâncio Saraiva (born 1 April 1881, erudite and well known professor, Mayor of Leiria and Head Master of Liceu Passos Manuel in Lisbon) and wife Maria da Ressurreição Baptista Saraiva. Amongst his siblings is António José Saraiva, a known researcher in the area of literature, and his nephew José António Saraiva worked as a journalist and architect. One of his maternal uncles was the last living Portuguese veteran of the First World War.

Saraiva married Maria de Lourdes de Bettencourt de Sá Nogueira (born 16 May 1918), daughter of Rodrigo de Sá Nogueira (born 3 December 1892, a college professor and great-nephew of Bernardo de Sá Nogueira de Figueiredo, 1st Marquess of Sá da Bandeira) and wife Maria Luísa Rodrigues de Bettencourt (married 20 November 1915), fathering five children.

Saraiva died, aged 92, in Palmela.