Brazilian businessman and politician Fernando Collor de Mello (born 1949) became that nation's youngest president in 1990. He brought a dynamic, effervescent style to the leadership of a nation saddled with enormous debt and pressing social problems.

Fernando Collor de Mello was elected president of Brazil on December 15, 1989, and inaugurated on March 15, 1990. A former journalist and media entrepreneur, Collor was the first popularly-elected president of Brazil since 1960, and, at age 40, that republic's youngest chief executive ever.

Born in Rio de Janeiro on August 12, 1949, Collor was raised largely in the poverty-ridden interior state of Alagoas, far from the centers of Brazilian power. His father, a wealthy businessman, served as governor of Alagoas, and other members of the Collor family served in government and business in positions of influence. He studied economics and journalism at the state's Federal University in Brasilia and began his career within the Collor family empire. Phenomenally successful...