It is with great sadness that the FIM writes to confirm the recent passing of Francesco Zerbi, a former FIM President who held this position from 1995 to 2006. Francesco was born in Taurianova – Italy on 28 June 1932.
Francesco Zerbi first joined the FIM back in 1977 as a valued member of the then Tourism and Concentrations Commission. Two years later the distinguished Italian gentlemen were elected as the President of his National Federation – the FMI, a post he would occupy for sixteen years in total from 1979 through to February 1996.
1982 saw Francesco become FIM Vice-President, and then from 1984 to 1994 he was appointed as FIM Deputy President. This proved to be an important step in his FIM career, with Francesco winning the FIM Presidential election held at the FIM Congress in Karlstad – Sweden in 1995 where he defeated the then current FIM President Jos Vaessen by sixty-six votes to sixty-three votes.
Francesco Zerbi was re-elected on two further occasions, in 1998 and 2002 before retiring from his post in 2006, after which he was made an FIM Honorary President from 2007.
On behalf of the FIM President Jorge Viegas, we extend our deepest condolences to Francesco’s family, his many friends, the FMI and FIM Europe, he will be sorely missed by the entire FIM Family.