Ugo Sansonetti, an Italian business executive who began running track in his 70s , won numerous medals at World Masters Athletic Championship events and broke several world records, died on Aug. 14 in Rome. He was 100 .

His daughter Ludovica Sansonetti confirmed the death.

By the time Mr. Sansonetti began running competitively, he had already led an eventful life. An adventurous, athletic scion of a wealthy landowning family, he had been the mayor of his hometown and had spent years in Costa Rica overseeing a settlement of Italian migrants who had cleared rain forest to build it.

In the early 1960s , having returned home with his family, he helped establish the Italian division of the frozen food giant Findus, based in Sweden. He served as its executive director and a consultant until retiring at age 76 in 1995.

That’s when his athletic career took off.

He started running because he was bored in retirement, his daughter said, and by his 80s he had begun to make a name for himself in races.