The ocean never stopped being the thing that moved him most
Petrônio Tavares, co-fundador da marca de surf Greenish, morreu aos 59 anos após bater a cabeça em rochas durante uma manobra no mar do México — um fim que, por sua crueldade, carrega também uma espécie de coerência poética: ele morreu no lugar onde sempre havia escolhido viver. Nascido no interior do Ceará, longe do oceano, Tavares passou a vida construindo uma identidade ao redor da água, transformando aquela primeira onda vista aos dez anos em três décadas de marca, comunidade e propósito. O que ele deixa não é apenas uma empresa, mas a prova de que é possível habitar plenamente o que se ama.
- Um homem de 59 anos que construiu uma vida inteira em torno do mar morreu exatamente nele — atingido por rochas durante uma manobra em uma área acidentada do México.
- A perda repercutiu imediatamente nas redes sociais, onde amigos e conhecidos prestaram homenagens espontâneas, descrevendo Tavares como uma presença que tornava tudo mais leve.
- A Greenish, marca que ele co-fundou com o irmão em 1992, emitiu uma nota que escolheu falar não de negócios, mas de valores — propósito, integridade, respeito às pessoas.
- Tavares deixa dois filhos e uma comunidade que aprendeu com ele que uma vida com sentido se constrói tanto fora quanto dentro d'água.
- A empresa anunciou que seguirá em frente carregando os ensinamentos do fundador, transformando o luto em compromisso com o legado que ele deixou.
Petrônio Tavares tinha 59 anos quando morreu em um acidente de surf no México, após bater a cabeça em rochas durante uma manobra. Ele deixou dois filhos e uma marca que ajudou a construir por mais de trinta anos.
Sua história com o mar começou tarde e longe: nascido em Aurora, no Cariri cearense, Tavares só viu o oceano pela primeira vez aos dez anos, quando a família se mudou para Fortaleza. Aquela onda inaugural nunca o abandonou. Aos 25, em 1992, ele e o irmão fundaram a Greenish, que se tornaria uma das marcas mais reconhecidas do universo do surf brasileiro. Mas a empresa nunca foi maior do que a paixão que a originou — ele continuou surfando e praticando kitesurf até o fim, vivendo o que havia imaginado ainda criança.
Quem o conhecia descrevia Tavares como carismático e alegre, alguém cuja presença bastava para mudar o tom de um ambiente. Ele compartilhava sua trajetória nas redes sociais com abertura e entusiasmo, documentando a passagem do menino do interior ao homem do mar.
No comunicado de luto, a Greenish escolheu falar menos do empreendedor e mais do ser humano: alguém que transmitia propósito, integridade e respeito, e cuja influência vivia nas pessoas ao redor, não apenas nos produtos que ajudou a criar. A empresa prometeu honrar sua memória mantendo vivos seus ensinamentos para as gerações que virão — continuando o caminho de um homem que, ao ver o mar pela primeira vez, nunca mais desviou o olhar.
Petrônio Tavares was surfing in Mexico on Friday when he struck his head against rocks while executing a maneuver in a wave-rich area known for its jagged formations. He was 59 years old. He left behind two children and a company he had built from the ground up three decades earlier.
Tavares was born in Aurora, a town in Ceará's Cariri region, far from the ocean. His first encounter with the sea came at ten years old, when his family relocated to Fortaleza. That initial wave—the one he caught as a boy—stayed with him as a vivid, almost present memory for the rest of his life. By 1992, at 25, he had co-founded Greenish with his brother, a brand that would eventually define much of his public identity. But the ocean never stopped being the thing that moved him most. He was not only a surfer but a kitesurfer too, someone who lived the life he had imagined as a child watching the water.
Friends and people who knew him described Tavares as charismatic and joyful—the kind of person whose presence seemed to make things lighter. He shared his story openly on social media, posting about his relationship with the sea, the arc from inland boy to ocean man. Those posts became a kind of record of who he was: someone who had found his purpose and lived it visibly.
When Greenish released its statement of mourning, the company did not focus on his business acumen alone. Instead, the brand emphasized what Tavares had transmitted to those around him—a way of seeing life rooted in purpose, integrity, and respect for people. The statement called him more than an ideator; it named him a constant source of inspiration, someone whose vision and passion had left deep marks on everyone who knew him. His legacy, the company wrote, lived on not in what he had built but in the values he had shared, the relationships he had cultivated, the dreams he had helped make real.
On social media, people who had crossed paths with him grieved publicly. One person wrote simply that he was one of the coolest people they had known in recent years. That kind of remark—casual, genuine, unadorned—seemed to capture something true about him: he had made an impression not through grandeur but through presence.
Greenish said it would honor his memory by keeping his teachings and inspiration alive for the generations to come. The company would continue, but it would do so carrying forward the man who had started it, the boy who had first seen the ocean at ten and never looked away.
Citações Notáveis
The first wave I caught is unforgettable, a very vivid memory in me as if it had been today— Petrônio Tavares, recalling his first experience with the ocean at age 10
His legacy goes far beyond what he built. It lives on in the values he shared, the relationships he cultivated, the dreams he helped make possible, and the way he saw life with purpose, integrity, and respect for people— Greenish, in a statement mourning the founder
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
What made Petrônio different as a founder? Was it just that he surfed?
No—plenty of people surf. It was that he never separated the ocean from his work. He lived the values he built the company on. He posted about his journey, about that first wave. He made it visible.
So the brand was personal to him in a way that mattered?
Completely. Greenish wasn't a business he ran; it was an extension of who he was. That's why the company's statement talks about his legacy being in the values, not the products.
Two children. Do we know anything about them?
The reporting doesn't say. But they lost their father doing something he loved, in a place he chose to be. That's its own kind of weight.
The accident itself—was it reckless? A rocky break is dangerous.
He was an experienced surfer and kitesurfer. He knew what he was doing. Sometimes the ocean just wins. That's the risk people who love it accept.
What happens to Greenish now?
It continues, but it's different. The company becomes a custodian of his memory instead of an expression of his presence. That's a real shift.