Very unexpectedly, WMA President Cesare Beccalli died on 26 December 2007 at the age of 73, while at his winter residence in Brazil.
This is the second time in the current election period that the World Masters Athletics Association lost one of its most prolific experts. In November 2005, Torsten Carlius died (then WMA Secretary), and now the masters movement has lost another most respected leader.
Cesare Beccalli, born in Milano, Italy, where he also earned a University Degree in Business Administration, made his summer home in Assenza di Brenzone at Lake Garda and maintained another residence in Porto Alegre, Brazil during the winter months of the northern hemisphere.
Second to none, he left his mark in the Masters Athletics movement at the World and European levels.
Inspired and filled with enthusiasm, Beccalli returned home to Italy from the first world senior championships in Toronto in 1975, where he had been the first and only competitor for Italy, starting in sprint disciplines.
His dedication grew quickly, and already in 1978 he, with the aid of the experienced Germans Wilhelm Koester and Dr. Hans Axmann, founded the European Veterans Athletic Association (EVAA) in Viareggio.
In the same year, the first European Senior Championships were conducted in that city under Beccalli's direction. He remained President of EVAA until 1988.
In 1987, he took over the presidency of the World Masters Association which then was still called WAVA, later to be renamed WMA, a position he held until 1997, the maximum term allowed under the Association's constitution.
His successor became Torsten Carlius who was elected in Durban RSA. When the latter's term of office had expired in 2005 at the conclusion of the San Sebastian championships, Cesare Beccalli again became a candidate and was re-elected to the presidency.
At the time of his death he also held appointed positions at the IAAF Masters Committee and at IMGA, the organiser of world multi-sports events for masters.
The Masters Athletic family mourns another unique personality.