Ray-Ban, Armani, Generali: billionaire Leonardo del Vecchio has died

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Leonardo del Vecchio in January 2017

Photo: HANDOUT/AFP

Businessman Leonardo del Vecchio has died at the age of 87.

Del Vecchio grew up in an orphanage and died a multi-billionaire.

His rise is a typical story of the boom in post-war Italy.

At the end of 2021, according to Forbes, he was the second richest man in Italy, behind Giovanni Ferrero from the Nutella group.

Del Vecchio founded the eyewear company Essilor-Luxottica, which owns brands such as Ray-Ban, and with his billions he became one of the most influential figures in Italian finance.

Typical of entrepreneurs of his generation, Del Vecchio has not retired but actually intensified his business activities at the age of 80.

Glasses were suddenly more than just visual aids

In 2018, he sealed a major merger deal to combine Luxottica, which he founded in 1961, with French company Essilor.

In addition, his Delfin Holding is the largest shareholder in Italian financial services group Mediobanca and also holds a sizeable stake in insurance company Generali.

Del Vecchio was born into poverty.

His father sold fruit and vegetables and died when Leonardo was little.

His mother placed him in a Milan orphanage when he was seven because she was too poor to support him.

He trained as a toolmaker before founding a company supplying eyewear parts in Agordo, a village in the foothills of the Dolomites in north-eastern Italy.

The start was difficult, the company almost went bankrupt.

A decade later, it began manufacturing its own eyewear and expanded rapidly in the 1980s as Del Vecchio realized the value of manufacturing eyewear as a fashion accessory.

In 1988 he signed a licensing deal with Giorgio Armani and subsequently collaborated with other luxury brands such as Bulgari, Chanel, Prada and Valentino.

Acquisitions were also part of Del Vecchio's strategy.

In 1999, the company bought the famous Ray-Ban brand, and subsequently acquired the Californian company Oakley, as well as retail chains in North America and Australia.

Return to the corporate headquarters

Like many aging Italian entrepreneurs, Del Vecchio was criticized for finding it difficult to break away from his company.

So he had failed to hand over control in good time and to designate an heir.

He has six children from three relationships and remarried his second wife in 2010.

For a decade he loosened his grip on the company, handing the reins to Andrea Guerra while remaining President of Luxottica.

Disagreements quickly arose with Guerra, who suddenly resigned in the summer of 2014.

Del Vecchio returned to Luxottica's Milan headquarters as a driving force.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about it.

Former employees complained that he interfered even in small things, such as when he was dissatisfied with the way employees packed their boxes for an office move.

Del Vecchio was also involved in a number of boardroom disputes.

The Essilor-Luxottica deal was followed by a long struggle over the division of the top posts between the Italian and French camps.

mamk/Reuters