Grapplers in Chicago and throughout the community are mourning this week, after the loss of black belt, school owner, and police officer Pedro Vianna. One half of The Vianna Brothers and their eponymous BJJ academy, the father and husband was killed earlier this week when he fell during a climbing accident in the French Alps.
Vianna’s wife and daughter were present when he fell. The accident took place on the Les Gaillands climbing course, where Pedro reportedly fell 65ft. after something went wrong. Few details on the accident have been released at this time. Early reports seem to suggest a rope passed to Vianna was too short.
Vianna, who coached alongside brother Daniel, was a 4th degree black belt in jiu-jitsu and a 3rd degree black belt in judo. He began as a judokah at age 7, enrolling at Carlson Gracie Academy with Carlson Gracie Jr. and Marcelo Alonso by age 13. In 1999, Vianna moved to Chicago and became the main instructor at the Carlson Gracie Jr. School. He was promoted to black belt in 2000. Vianna’s teaching career also included time in Brazil, where has was on staff at Brazilian Top Team until June 2004.
Pedro was just 44.
Our deepest condolences to The Vianna Brothers family and academy. The wake for Vianna, should you want to support the family, will be November 6th, 3:00-9:00pm (St. Jude Police League Service at 7:00 p.m.), in Chicago. A GoFundMe set up for his wife and daughter recently shut down, having raised over $25,000.00 to help with funeral costs in just a few days.
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