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His mother was amongst the first accredited female medical doctors (Obstretrician-Gynaecologist) in the world.
He became a vegetarian in the 1920s, later even eschewing dairy products, during a time when it was highly unusual to be so.
He was an excellent amateur soccer player, having once played against Artur Friedenreich during an Army-civilian friendly in the late 1920s. He quit soccer when his leg broke circa 1935.
He was three-times champion in tennis, securing the Brazilian Armed Forces Cup at the "Clube Militar" country club in Rio de Janeiro, versus a Brazilian Naval competitor, and held the Army Cup a record five-times.
He was a lifelong-smoker of slangily-named "mata rato" (rat-poison) unfiltered cigarettes, such as the brand "Hollywood", which sadly contributed to his lung cancer, and consequent untimely death. It was a conscious decision to keep smoking, despite his knowledge that it was dangerous.
Part of his duties as an Army medical doctor included vetting young men around Brazil, for their compulsory military duty. But well-to-do men often had different ideas, refusing to accept that their sons had to go for the mandatory 1 year period. The then young military officer was once offered U$2,000 to excuse the son of one such man, which was tersely refused, despite it being a minor fortune at the time. On another more memorable occasion, he was offered a pair of worn leather boots. It was also refused.
As a General, he was entitled to a full-time chauffeur, who was supposed to drive him to the Ministry of the Army headquarters, near Rio de Janeiro's Centro (downtown). He declined, instead choosing to walk part of the way, or to take a tramcar -- an attitude unheard of in the Brazilian elite society from which he sprang. His military chauffeur feared both would be in trouble if news of this democratic rebellion reached others, so he docilely followed the General as he walked, alongside in the car. Despite, or perhaps even because of his unusually strict personality, the taciturn gentleman was very popular with both high and low.
He and his son were present at the infamous, so-called "Maracanaço" World Cup Final of 1950, where legendary football host nation, Brazil, lost 2-1 to Uruguay. It was the first and last time his son remembered his father crying.
