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ROME—Love him or hate him, Silvio Berlusconi, who died at the age of 86 according to media reports on Monday, will go down in history as one of Italy’s most influential leaders. The enduring success of the permatanned, gaffe-prone billionaire defied all logic, but he also defined what it was to be Italian from the moment he came to power in 1994 until his reported death this week.
Berlusconi was a self-made man in a country where political and financial success rarely comes to those who don’t inherit it. He started his career as a door-to-door vacuum-cleaner salesman and he played upright bass and worked for a stint as a cruise-ship crooner before entering real estate. He graduated from Milan University with a law degree in 1961, focusing on advertising law. Shortly after, he set up his first company, Edilnord, with questionable funding that was rumored to be tied to organized crime. Many of his associates during this lengthy career were tried and convicted of mafia collusion, but Berlusconi, who earned the nickname Teflon Don, was often investigated, but never convicted of mafia ties.
He is credited with building the first middle-class housing development in suburban Milan in the 1960s. The project, called Milano Due, offered affordable, trendy housing to up-and-coming business magnates who could not afford expensive apartments in the city center.