Leonardo Del Vecchio was an Italian billionaire businessman who had a net worth of $30 billion at the time of his death in June 2022. Leonardo Del Vecchio is best known as the founder and chairman of Luxottica, the biggest producer and retailer of glasses and frames in the world. The company has more than 9,000 retail stores around the world employing over 77,000 people. At the time of his death, Del Vecchio was the richest person in Italy, and one of the 70 richest people in the world.
Leonardo Del Vecchio died on June 27, 2022 at the age of 87. He was survived by a wife and six children from three relationships, aged 18 – 65.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Leonardo Del Vecchio was born on May 22, 1935 in Milan, Italy to a poor family from Barletta, Southern Italy. When he was just five months old, his father passed away. At the age of seven, he was sent to an orphanage because his widowed mother was unable to support him and his four siblings. Del Vecchio started his career at the age of 14, working as an apprentice to a tool and die maker in Milan. He subsequently chose to use his metalworking skills to create eyeglass parts. Del Vecchio went to the Brera Academy of Art, and earned a degree in engraving in 1958. In 1961, he relocated to the town of Agordo in the Province of Belluno, which is the center of the eyewear industry in Italy. There, he founded the company Luxottica with financial backing from two early customers.
