Last May 4, Giancarlo Anselmi passed away. He had to surrender to time and the disease that had relentlessly weakened him. Born 1936, Anselmi was a very curious man and a bright mind, with strong social and political passion; these characteristics led him to give a significant contribution also to the association of Italian woodworking technology manufacturers.
He served as president of Acimall, the Italian industry association, from 2000 to 2002, during one of the most challenging and tough periods for the association, a time when it was not easy to find a compromise among distant position. He tried hard and he devoted all his energy to this task. He was also called to chair Efimall – the organizers of Interbimall, that under his presidency was renamed to Xylexpo – and Cfi, the industry exhibition committee of Confindustria.
“Anselmi was an old-time man – remembers Ambrogio Delachi, another past-president of Acimall – with a style and a culture that are more and more difficult to find today. He was very engaged with the association, on a national and international level, even if the wood industry was not so relevant for his company, more focused on other business sectors. We met and we discussed, sometimes we argued, but always with great mutual respect. He was very skilled in public relations at all levels, with an extended network of contacts, while his bright mind and experience helped him face every situation in the best possible way… he gave a lot to the association.”
Remembering him, someone wrote “He was born in Veneto, his family came from the Marches, he was adopted by Lombardy, but the truth is that, wherever he went, he was at home. In Greece he was a Greek, in Yemen a Yemenite…”. Hi curiosity, his desire to know different civilizations and cultures drove him to travel across Italy and around the world: just a few years ago, approaching his eighties, he had toured Romania in a caravan, one of this most iconic trips.
“His passion for travelling is really the biggest lesson he has left”, remembers his son Sergio, who has been in charge for running Bruno Balducci, the family company, since 2004, specializing in air intake and filtration systems. “At work, he was a perfectionist and he taught us to look further ahead, to consider all possible consequences of our actions: his decisions, his actions, his reasons were never trivial, he really believed that everyone of us has clear responsibilities and must take into account everything that surrounds us, saving his own interest till last. His company, our company could be much bigger and much more relevant today, but probably with more enemies and less justice…”.
