António de Medeiros e Almeida (1895–1986), ComC; OB; ComB; GOMAI; GCMAI; OBE; OMC, was a Portuguese businessman, industrialist, collector and benefactor.

Having appreciated the young entrepreneur's pledge of his word as a guarantee, Lord Nuffield gave him a vote of confidence and he became, from 1923 onwards, the importer of Morris, Mg, Wolseley e Riley for Portugal, opening a stand - A.M. Almeida Lda.

To provide after-sales assistance, he opened a Morris service station at Conde Barão garage and a parts and accessories store in the nearby area.

In 1941 as the administrator of Bensaúde & C. ª, he was one of five Azorean investors who bet on the creation of the Sociedade Açoriana de Estudos Aéreos Limitada (SAEAL), to create aerial connections between Lisbon and the archipelago (nowadays SATA).

Aiming at maximizing the safety and comfort of its passengers, Medeiros e Almeida also hired, for the first time, a full cabin crew with a pilot, a co-pilot, a mechanic, a telegraph operator, and a flight attendant.

He would remain one of TAP's main shareholders and chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, a position he would hold until 1960 when he decided to leave and transfer the capital he held to SATA.

In 1967, the businessman founded SINAGA - Sociedade de Indústrias Agrícolas Açoreanas SARL, which had two factories on the island of São Miguel, Santa Clara (sugar) and Lagoa (alcohol), and was chairman of the Board of Directors until his death.

At the end of the war, the shares were returned to their owners and later, in 1965, Medeiros e Almeida asked Vasco Bensaúde to find his replacement so that he could depart from the business world and dedicate himself to the transformation of his house into a museum.

[2]In 1952, Oliveira Salazar, thinking that Lisbon lacked a large international hotel, asked the banker Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva to take over the project.

Medeiros e Almeida was also a partner of the CUF Group at SALVOR Sociedade de Investimento Hoteleiro S.A.R.L., a company established in 1963 and responsible for the construction of the Alvor Hotel in the Algarve, a project by the architect Carlos Ramos (1897-1969).

Over this period, he helped his diplomat friend on several occasions, mediating the tensions between Winston Churchill and Oliveira Salazar over the negotiations regarding the Lajes airbase in the Azores.

During this period Medeiros e Almeida allowed the English the use of the Azorean port terminals of Companhia Insulana de Navegação, as well as supplying their ships with fuel and reparation works.

In recognition of his help during the troubled period of the Second World War, King George VI decorated, in 1947, António Medeiros e Almeida with the Order of The British Empire.

Seeking to decorate his home, Medeiros e Almeida purchased artworks from Portuguese and foreign antique dealers as well as national and international auction houses becoming, over time, a passionate collector of decorative arts: "Since my twenties, that is, since 1915, I became interested in antiques, which I started to acquire when I was 30 years old and when my possessions allowed (…)"Having had no children, and aware that his art collection had reached a level of significant importance, from the mid-60s onward, the Medeiros e Almeida couple entertained the idea of creating a museum to guarantee the preservation of his collection.