Michele Ferrero, owner of Nutella empire, dies at 89 on Valentine's Day

Michele Ferrero, Italy's richest man and owner of Nutella brand, dies aged 89

• The world's richest candy maker, with a personal wealth of $26 billion, surpassing Silvio Berlusconi. As of May 2014, The Bloomberg Billionaires Index lists Ferrero as the 20th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$ 26 billion. 
• The company, which Mr. Ferrero’s father, Pietro, started in a Piedmont pastry shop in the 1940s, grew under the younger Mr. Ferrero’s leadership into a worldwide powerhouse, rivaling Mars, Nestlé and Hershey. Its sales in 2014 totaled about $10 billion.
• Ferrero's Brands include Nutella, Mon Chéri, Kinder Chocolate, Ferrero Rocher, Tic Tacs and Kinder Eggs.
• He was a fervent Catholic, and company executives have said that he went to the Lourdes shrine at least annually, and that there is a statue of the Madonna in every Ferrero factory and office.

Ferrero's father, Pietro, started making Nutella when cocoa was still rationed during World War II,

The company was one of Italy's most successful, a prime example of the "Made in Italy" brand of food and luxury goods that have defined the private sector in post-war Italy.

Michele Ferrero, founder of Ferrero SpA, center, poses with his sons Pietro, right, and Giovanni 

   

left: Michele Ferrero; right: Pietro Ferrero who died at the age of 47 in 2011, while riding a bicycle in South Africa.

Pietro Ferrero opened his first chocolate laboratory in Alba, in Italy's northwest Piemonte region, in 1942.  He died of a heart attack in 1949 at the age of 51. The business passed to Michele upon Pietro's death.

Michele Ferrero developed Kinder chocolates in 1968, Tic Tacs a year later and Ferrero Rocher in 1982, according to a biography provided by the company. Eventually, Ferrero introduced the Ferrero Rocher chocolates in Europe and by 1985 began selling them in the United States, according to the company's website.

By 1997, Michele Ferrero handed over the running of the company to his two sons, Pietro and Giovanni. Pietro Ferrero died in 2011 of a cardiac arrest, leaving Giovanni the sole CEO.

Survivors include Ferrero's wife, Maria Franca, and Giovanni.