Gianroberto Casaleggio died today in Milan. The entrepreneur, who founded the 5 Star Movement together with Beppe Grillo, was 61 years old and had been ill for some time. In recent weeks, several rumors of his farewell to politics had spread.
Casaleggio was also a founding member and president of Casaleggio Associati srl, an IT and publishing company that deals with consultancy on network strategies and edits Beppe Grillo's blog.
Son of a Russian-speaking interpreter, Casaleggio began his career as a basic software designer at Olivetti in Ivrea - led by Roberto Colaninno - where he met his wife, the English Elizabeth Clare Birks, with whom he had a son in 1976 , David.
He was editor of some books by Beppe Grillo and until 2010 he also took care of the blog of Antonio Di Pietro, of the island on Second Life of Italia dei Valori and of the website of the publisher Chiarelettere, with which the collaboration was interrupted in 2013.
Between 2007 and 2008 he held the position of advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure Antonio Di Pietro free of charge for the study of activities related to institutional communication in the Prodi II Government.
