On October 25, 2022, two days before the company’s 60th anniversary conmemoration at Bogotá Country Club, Duke FORESE SALVIATI, the founder of SB Talee, passed away in Migliarino, Italy, at the age of 95. In the opening speech of the evening, Mr. Celiar Noreña, the company’s manager, paid a heartfelt tribute to him: «I would like to thank you all for your presence tonight and to welcome you to our commemoration of the 60 th anniversary of SB Talee. At the same time I wish to share with you with deep feeling, that DON FORESE SALVIATI, our Founder, passed away in Italy, two days ago, so tonight we will celebrate his life, and honor the memory of an extraordinary human being, of noble qualities and values, always showing his love for flowers and his passion about our country and its people, who today would have been very proud to know that SB Talee’s varieties are present in most countries of the world. Don Forese’s love for Colombia led him to know with his brother Leonardo Salviati our country; he was interested in touring it as perhaps few of us have done….. I have engraved the memory of his smile when he arrived in Colombia and also his sadness when he left. I was impressed by his enthusiasm when he arrived here, when in spite of a long trip and in the late afternoon, he preferred to go immediately to see the varieties, instead of taking a rest and wait until next day; his enthusiasm and his special affection for the Propagation farm was always evident. Our bond of friendship, support, trust and generous gratitude was evident in many shared moments; I remember that in 1989 when the company sent me to st up SB TURKEY and I returned to Italy to report on the trip, I approached him to thank him for the opportunity and his response was immediate «he who has no words to thank is me», always ready to recognize and appreciate the work around his vision of the business and passion for flowers. My spirit today is filled with deep emotion and feeling, the bond built with Don FORESE, has transcended from long ago. Forty-seven years ago I lost my father, and then life allowed me to create a bond of special empathy and affection with him… he gave me a second father, but more than that, he gave me a great friend. I want to celebrate his life and thank him for his love for Sandra and my children; his affection will be lovingly kept in our hearts. I want to thank Donna Grazia, for her complicity and support to Don Forese in his travels around the world, also for all her special care for him in these last years, and I can not fail to thank his daughter Dianora, who had arranged the trip to Colombia to be with us tonight. In the distance we accompany the Salviati Family, paying a tribute to the life of Don FORESE».

Celiar Noreña