Socrates received his doctorate in medicine from the University of São Paulo in 1977, which is why he was nicknamed "the Doctor." At Corinthians he was one of the promoters of the "Corinthian Democracy", a pioneering self-management movement in national sports that fought against the dictatorship.
His death was as he requested in an interview in 1983: "I want to die on a Sunday and with the Corinthians Campeão." In the early hours of Sunday, December 4, 2011, Socrates passed away and that same afternoon Corinthians was proclaimed League Champion.
