/ At 89 years old, the founder of OCEM, Cesare Marchetti, passed away /

The parks & attractions industry has been deeply shaken in recent weeks: on March 8, at the age of 89, Cesare Marchetti, a prominent entrepreneur in the field of metal carpentry applied to the amusement sector, passed away in Este (Padova, Italy). This is the person who, in 1988, founded OCEM, a company specializing in medium-heavy steel constructions, now led by his sons Cristiano and Massimo. Many structures of the beautiful amusement rides that you can see in the most popular parks around the world, especially rollercoasters, have come out of his workshops in the small towns of Este and Monselice.

A sharp and visionary entrepreneur, Cesare had metal carpentry in his DNA, since his father and his grandfather before him, had also worked in this field, with a blacksmith’s shop opened in 1882. Cesare’s passion for his work never left him, even in recent years, always participating and interested in the evolution of the sector and the challenges faced by the family business in dealing with increasingly extreme and technologically advanced amusement rides.

Cesare was also a generous man, deeply in love with his wife Adelaide (with whom he had recently celebrated 55 years of marriage) and his sons Cristiano and Massimo. He left them a legacy of love and values that will accompany them forever: “Dad transmitted to us foundational values that we will never forget, such as integrity and professionalism, of which we are proud,” his sons emphasized. “Among the works he created, we like to remember 4 in particular: the 65-meter-tall Ferris wheel called Texas Star for the city of Dallas produced in the ’80s (Dad worked in that case for the historical SDC); the 2 Flight of Fear rollercoasters installed in the ’90s at King’s Island and King’s Dominion parks in the USA (at the time owned by Paramount Parks) and which were the very first launched coasters in the world to use linear induction motors; and finally, in the ’90s the construction of a part of the High Roller rollercoaster installed at the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas.”

Cristiano and Massimo then added: “The commitment and determination with which Dad always directed our company are for us a great example to emulate and allow us today to be among the 4 leading companies in the world in this market.”

Continue reading Games & Parks Industry March 2024, page 26

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