Leonardo Del Vecchio, Chairman of renown spectacles maker EssilorLuxotica, died on Monday aged 87, in Milan.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our Chairman, Leonardo Del Vecchio. Today, the world has lost a visionary: an entrepreneurial genius, a good friend to many, and an all-round incredible man,” said Essilor group on their official Twitter account.
Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala, expressed his condolensces, and wrote on Twitter: “With the passing of Del Vecchio, Milan loses one of the most emblematic figures of its recent history.”
It was previously reported that the billionaire entrepreneur was under bed rest for several days in the San Raffaele hospital intensive care unit.
Born in 1935, Del Vecchio grew up in an orphanage. He founded Luxottica at the age of 26 in a small mountain town in the Veneto region, during Italy’s 60s economic boom.
In 2018, Luxottica went on to merge with its French manufacturer, Essilor.
EssilorLuxottica, which owns the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands and makes frames for luxury glasses like Armani and Prada, is also the world’s biggest producer of corrective lenses.
Del Vecchio was one of Italy’s wealthiest men, ranking second with a fortune worth of 27,3 billion dollars, after Giovanni Ferrero, the man behind the Nutella-making company, according to Forbes magazine.
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