“EssilorLuxottica sadly announces today that its chairman is dead,” the group said in a statement, adding that the board will meet to “determine the next steps.”
Del Vecchio was born from a childhood in an orphanage to amass a fortune of tens of billions of euros in one of the most famous stories of post-war Italy’s economic recovery.
“Leonardo Del Vecchio was a great Italian. His story, from the orphanage to the leadership of a business empire, seems like a story from another time. But he is an example for today and tomorrow. RIP.” European Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Twitter. .
The Italian businessman founded Luxottica in 1961 and created a company that owns the Ray-Ban brand and joined forces with the French Essilor in a major merger in 2018.
He remained CEO of EssilorLuxottica until December 2020, when he handed over the day-to-day leadership of the company to CEO Francesco Milleri. He had personally supported Milleri as head of the Franco-Italian eyewear giant when the merged group was formed.
Del Vecchio’s influence extended beyond his own business and by the end of 2021 he was the second richest man in Italy behind Giovanni Ferrero of the Nutella manufacturing group, according to Forbes.
Its holding company Delfin is the largest shareholder in the Italian financial services group Mediobanca and has a stake of just under 10% in Italy’s largest insurer, Generali. It also owns about 7% of the real estate company Covivio, which is listed in both Paris and Milan.
“With the passing of Del Vecchio, Milan is losing one of the most iconic figures in its recent history,” Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said on Twitter.
Shares of Mediobanca fell more than 4% after the reports, Generali fell almost 2.5%, while EssilorLuxottica – of which Delfin owns 32% of the stake – remained unchanged at just under of 148 euros per share.