| Gustavo Zerbino | |
| Office: | President of the Uruguayan Rugby Union |
| Term Start: | 20 December 2007 |
| Term End: | 2011 |
| Predecessor: | Pablo Ferrari |
| Successor: | Marcello Calandra |
| Birth Name: | Gustavo Carlos Zerbino Stajano |
| Birth Date: | 1953 5, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Children: | 6 |
| Education: | University of the Republic |
Gustavo Carlos Zerbino Stajano (born May 16, 1953) is an Uruguayan businessman, motivational speaker, sports executive and former rugby union player.[1] He is known for being one of the sixteen survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 plane crash that occurred on October 13, 1972 in the Andes.
Gustavo Zerbino was born in Montevideo on May 16, 1953, the son of lawyer Jorge Zerbino Cavajani and his wife Susana Stajano Ferreiro.[2] He is one of the couple's nine children,[3] and a maternal descendant of Carlos Stajano, one of the founders of Carrasco Polo Club.[4] Raised in the Carrasco neighborhood, he attended Stella Maris College and played for its alumni rugby union team, Old Christians.[5]
In 1972 he enrolled at the University of the Republic to study medicine.[6] On October 13, at the age of 19, he was a passenger on Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 that crashed in the Andes and was one of those who survived 72 days in the mountains.[7]
After returning to Uruguay from the Andes, Zerbino continued studying medicine but ultimately did not graduate.[8] Instead, he earned a business administration degree from the University of the Republic.[9] He also continued playing rugby union, he was a member of the national team, and participated in the 1973 and 1977 South American Rugby championships, in which Uruguay finished as runner-up.[10]
Since 1980 he has been director of Cibeles S.A., his family's pharmaceutical company founded in 1975.[11] He also has served as president of the Chamber of Pharmaceutical and Related Specialties of Uruguay (CEFA).[12]
He is co-founder and vice president of, a foundation created in 2009 with the aim of promoting the values of this sport through awareness campaigns, events, conferences and sporting events.[13] In addition, as a sports executive and administrator, in December 2007 he was elected president of the Uruguayan Rugby Union,[14] and in 2009 was re-elected for a second two-year term.[15] In 2011 he was succeeded by Marcello Calandra.[16]
Zerbino was married for thirteen years to Paqui Paysée, with whom he had four children, Gustavo, Sebastián, Lucas, and Martín, the latter was a member of the band Toco Para Vos.[17]
In 2000 he began a relationship with the Argentine María González whom he later married. Together they had two daughters, Luma —Gonzalez's maiden daughter, whom Zerbino adopted—, and Lupita.[18] They both divorced and in October 2019, María González died of breast cancer.[19]
Zerbino was portrayed by actor David Kriegel in Frank Marshall's 1993 feature film Alive, and by Tomás Wolf in the 2023 feature film, Society of the Snow.[20]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | himself | video documentary | ||
| 2007 | Stranded: I've Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains | himself | documentary | |
| 2009 | Independent Lens' (Stranded: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors) | himself | TV series documentary | |
| 2010 | himself | documentary aired on History Channel | ||
| 2023 | Society of the Snow | Rugby Coach | feature film |