Italy mourns chocolate heir
(ANSA) - Milan, April 19 - Pietro Ferrero, joint chief executive and heir of the multinational confectioner Ferrero SpA, died after reportedly suffering a heart attack on a bicycle in South Africa. Ferrero was on a business trip with his father, Michele, and about 30 group managers to plan a factory near Johannesburg, and cycling was his passion. The president of Confindustria, Emma Marcegaglia, remembers Pietro as "a valuable entrepreneur and far-sighted man.
"There are no words to express our pain.
One of the greatest representatives of Italian capitalism has disappeared. It is a great loss for the country". "It is a very serious loss.
(He was) a capable manager and a man of rare solidity," said the governor of Piedmont, Roberto Cota.
"On behalf of all Piedmont, I embrace the family, symbol of great values and dedication to work". A member of the third generation to run the Piedmontese confectionary giant famed for chocolate products like Nutella and Kinder Eggs, Pietro was the oldest son of Michele Ferrero, 85, chairman of the group and - according to Forbes magazine - Italy's richest man. Pietro co-ran Ferrero SpA with his younger brother by a year, Giovanni. Pietro was also CEO of Ferrero International, the Luxembourg holding company with 38 companies, 18 plants, and more than 20,000 employees on four continents. Pietro was an important industrialist at the heart of Italian capitalism. He has been a board member of Italian bank Mediobanca and its supervisory board, the insurer Allianz, and the construction group Italcementi. He has also served as an officer for industry groups Confindustria and Assonime, and as an executive committee member of Aspen Institute Italia. In November 2002, he received the Leonardo Quality Award in 2002 from then president of Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. In the city of Alba, where he lived, Pietro is remembered as a private man who loved sports, particularly skiing and bicycling. He liked to peddle among the hills around the city, often with managers or employees of the Ferrero group, and sometimes took part in amateur races. His grandfather and the group's founder, also named Pietro, died of a heart attack at the age of 51. Ferrero is survived by his wife, Luisa Strumia, and three small children: Michael, age 4, Marie Eder age 3 and John, one and a half.
One of the greatest representatives of Italian capitalism has disappeared. It is a great loss for the country". "It is a very serious loss.
(He was) a capable manager and a man of rare solidity," said the governor of Piedmont, Roberto Cota.
"On behalf of all Piedmont, I embrace the family, symbol of great values and dedication to work". A member of the third generation to run the Piedmontese confectionary giant famed for chocolate products like Nutella and Kinder Eggs, Pietro was the oldest son of Michele Ferrero, 85, chairman of the group and - according to Forbes magazine - Italy's richest man. Pietro co-ran Ferrero SpA with his younger brother by a year, Giovanni. Pietro was also CEO of Ferrero International, the Luxembourg holding company with 38 companies, 18 plants, and more than 20,000 employees on four continents. Pietro was an important industrialist at the heart of Italian capitalism. He has been a board member of Italian bank Mediobanca and its supervisory board, the insurer Allianz, and the construction group Italcementi. He has also served as an officer for industry groups Confindustria and Assonime, and as an executive committee member of Aspen Institute Italia. In November 2002, he received the Leonardo Quality Award in 2002 from then president of Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. In the city of Alba, where he lived, Pietro is remembered as a private man who loved sports, particularly skiing and bicycling. He liked to peddle among the hills around the city, often with managers or employees of the Ferrero group, and sometimes took part in amateur races. His grandfather and the group's founder, also named Pietro, died of a heart attack at the age of 51. Ferrero is survived by his wife, Luisa Strumia, and three small children: Michael, age 4, Marie Eder age 3 and John, one and a half.