owned by the State Government. CEO of VFRGS from 1920 to 1926 and State Secretary for Transport and Public Works from 1926 to 1928, Pestana improved the performance of rail transport in Rio Grande do Sul. Notwithstanding another civil war (the "1923 Revolution"), the number of passengers transported by VFRGS rose from 1.1 million in 1920 to 2 million in 1928, while the freight number rose from 640 thousand metric tons to 1 million metric tons in that same period. Pestana forged an efficient management model for VFRGS that lasted until the acquisition of the company by the Brazilian Federal Railway System (Rede Ferroviária Federal) in 1959 and the final demise of passenger rail transport in Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s. Elected again to the National Congress of Brazil on April 28, 1928, and on March 1, 1930, Pestana did not engage in the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 in spite of his friendship and political comradeship with President Getúlio Vargas. His last public task was the modernisation of the Porto Alegre harbor in 1932. Pestana died in Rio de Janeiro on May 29, 1934, after a cancer surgery. Legacy and family Deeply influenced by the work of Comte, Pestana was a typical member of the generation that defined the Brazilian Republic of 1889-1930. He provided a decisive contribution to the development of Ijuí and Northwestern Rio Grande do Sul, stressing the importance of robust public policies on infrastructure and education. His name is associated with good governance and honesty, but also with the autocratic rule that characterized Rio Grande do Sul during the governments of Júlio de Castilhos and Borges de Medeiros. The city of Augusto Pestana, a former district of Ijuí, is named after him, as well as the main museum of Northwestern Rio Grande do Sul (Museu Antropológico Diretor Pestana) and several streets and railway stations throughout Rio Grande do Sul and other Brazilian states. Pestana married on May 24, 1892, Virgínia da Fontoura Trindade, granddaughter of Antônio Vicente da Fontoura, one of the main leaders of the Riograndense Republic, Special Envoy to the Imperial Court of Rio de Janeiro in 1844 and chief negotiator of the 1845 Peace Treaty of Ponche Verde. They had ten children, all born and raised in Rio Grande do Sul, including Clóvis Pestana, former Brazilian Minister of Transport and Mayor of Porto Alegre, and Cyro Pestana, Justice of the State Supreme