Guido lost his father at age 17, and per his wishes, the young man pursued an engineering degree at the University of Buenos Aires with the intention of later managing the family industrial firm (an employer of 5,000).

Such a progression was unusual among young Argentines of a privileged background; di Tella, however, came to believe that class-driven prejudices against the mostly working-class Peronists had to be set aside if Argentina was once again, in his words, to become a "serious country."

Teaching at his alma mater and at the Argentine Catholic University, he also helped spur the Di Tella Institute into becoming a leading sponsor of the local vanguard movement in the arts during the 1960s.

[1] He also strengthened the newly cordial relations with the U.K. and signed landmark commercial cooperation accords regarding the Exclusive Economic Zone around the Falkland Islands with British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, in November 1991.

[3] Di Tella retired from public service with the change of administrations in December 1999, on which occasion he was made an honorary fellow of St. Antony's (a rare distinction).