The Italian billionaire, chairman of the board of directors of the Franco-Italian Essilorluxottica glasses, has been in intensive care for several weeks at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, according to the AGA news agency.
Le Monde with AFP
Leonardo Del Vecchio, Italian billionaire and chairman of the board of directors of the Franco-Italian Essilorluxottica, died at the age of 87 in Milan, announced the group on Monday, June 27, in a Communicated , adding that the board of directors would meet to decide on the next steps.
The entrepreneur has been in intensive care for the San Raffaele hospital for several weeks in Milan, according to the AGA news agency. “Del Vecchio was a great Italian”, an “example for today and for tomorrow”, reacted on his account Twitter The European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni.
The entrepreneur, born in 1934 in Milan, had resumed his place in the executive of the Luxottica group, the company which owns the brand Ray-Ban, in September 2014, after the departure of Andrea Guerra, 48 years old , the director general.
of the orphanage to the management of Luxottica
Benjamin of a siblings of four children, he is 7 years old when his father, a fruit and vegetable seller, dies. His mother entrusted him with the orphanage of Martinitt, in Milan, so that he learns a profession there.
He is 15 years old when he begins to work in a factory of cuts and medals, whose owner pushes him to register at the Academy of the Brera Museum. In 1968, he attached himself to Agordo (veneted), where he opened a workshop of glasses frames. Three years later, this one, which has fourteen employees, took the name of Luxottica SA. The businessman merged with French Essilor in 2018.
Today, the company has remained faithful to Agordo, but, by seizing the Persol brands, Oliver People, Oakley, Mikli, etc., and by manufacturing for Armani, Chanel or Prada, she changed his scale.
Married three times, father of six, Leonardo Del Vecchio placed his empire in the Luxembourg financial holding company Delfin, which controls 61.35 % of Luxottica. Delfin is the main shareholder of the Italian Bank Mediobanca and holds a participation of just under 10 % in the Italian insurance company Generali.