All Obituary articles
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Cesare Paciotti dies at 69
Cesare Paciotti, the Italian footwear designer and businessman, died on Oct. 12 at age 69 in his home in Civitanova Marche, in the Marche region. In 1980, Paciotti and his sister, Paola, who had taken over the family footwear business that had been created in 1948 by their father Giuseppe, ...
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Footwear designer Gino Jagindar Singh passes away
The Singapore-based shoe designer Gino Jagindar Singh, best known for the brand Riccino Shoes, died on Sept. 11 at the age of 73. “For those of you who knew him, who were his customers for a long time, my dearest father has gone to be with the Lord today,” his ...
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Giorgio Armani passes away
The Italian designer Giorgio Armani has passed away at the age of 91 , announced the fashion group he created. “With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” the group said, noting that the designer “worked until his final ...
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German footwear retailer Hans Leinweber dies at 84
Hans Leinweber, a veteran of German footwear retailing, has died at the age of 84 after a long illness. As the third-generation managing partner of the Berlin-based AS Group, Leinweber played a central role in shaping and expanding the company over several decades. Born in 1940 into a ...
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Francesco Parisotto of Scarpa has passed away
Francesco Parisotto, a key figure in the history of Italian outdoor footwear company Scarpa and a pioneer of Italy’s Sportsystem, the technical footwear and sporting goods district of Asolo and Montebelluna, in Italy’s northeast, has died at the age of 98. Born in 1927 in Coste di Maser, near Treviso, ...
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Footwear entrepreneur Markus Rieker dies
Markus Rieker, the long-standing owner and designer behind Germany’s Rieker footwear group, died last month at 81. The footwear entrepreneur, the grandson of company founder Heinrich Rieker, played a key role in shaping the brand’s global identity over several decades. He joined the company’s management team in 1975, ...
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Gerli co-founder Bruno Heim dies at 84
Bruno Heim, the co-founder of the German footwear company Schuh-Import und Export Gerli, died at 84 in his hometown of Münchweiler, in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. The entrepreneur founded the company in 1973 with Gösta Andersson, picking a name derived from the first names of their wives, Gertrud Heim ...
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Scarpa mourns the loss of Filippo Zanin and Francesco Favilli
Filippo Zanin and Francesco Favilli, a marketing specialist and a brand manager of the mountain category at Scarpa, passed away on Sept. 3 while climbing the south face of the Marmolada in the Italian Dolomites. Zanin, 36, and Favilli, 44, were expert mountaineers and rock climbers, both well-known in ...
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The founder of Oboz has passed away
Outdoor industry veteran John Connelly passed away on Aug. 22 at the age of 77 after a long battle with various cancers. Connelly dedicated 50 years to the outdoor industry, beginning his career at an outdoor shop in Richmond, Virginia, and later contributing to over 15 outdoor footwear brands. In ...
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ArticleThe Swiss footwear retail veteran Max Vögele dies at 93
The Swiss shoe entrepreneur Max Vögele has died at the age of 93 in Pfäffikon, in the canton of Zurich. The industry veteran was responsible for building one of Switzerland’s best-known footwear retailers, Karl Vögele AG (KVAG), which operated the banners Vögele Shoes, Bingo and Max Shoes. Born ...
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Ganter and Hassia’s sales representative Uwe Hermeling dies at 54
Uwe Hermeling, the sales representative for the Austrian comfort shoe brands Hassia and Ganter, died unexpectedly. He was 54 years old. The sales expert had worked at Ganter and Hassia for four years. His career also included positions at Mephisto, Marc Shoes and Rohde. Hermeling previously worked as ...
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Kienast Group’s former chief Michael Kienast dies
Michael Kienast, the former head of the family-run shoe retailer of the same name, has died, the company said in a statement. The entrepreneur passed away on May 12 at the age of 82 after a serious illness. An “entrepreneur with heart and soul”, Kienast was “a visionary who, ...
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ArticleLudwig Görtz dies at 89
Ludwig Görtz, the former boss and owner of the footwear retailer Görtz, died on Easter Sunday at the age of 89, according to media reports. The Hamburg native joined his family’s business in 1960, at the age of 26, and took over the management of the company from his ...
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Emilio Zamberlan has passed away
Emilio Zamberlan has passed away at the age of 80. His father, Giuseppe, was the founder of the Italian footwear company Calzaturificio Zamberlan, which specializes in handmade outdoor and hunting footwear, in 1929. The company is now led by the third generation with Marco and Maria. Emilio Zamberlan projected Calzaturificio ...
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Footwear veteran Helmut Werdich dies at 89
Helmut Werdich, a footwear entrepreneur who turned a small family business into a shoe retail chain operating throughout southern Germany, has died at 89. Born on Feb. 1, 1934 in Wangen, in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany, as the eldest of four children, Werdich was a third-generation footwear professional. ...
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Sosandar’s chairman passes away
The British fashion brand Sosandar said that its non-executive chairman, Bill Murray, has passed away. “It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Bill over the weekend. He will be deeply missed by all who had the privilege of working with him. Bill has left a ...
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Paco Rabanne dies at 88
The Spanish designer Paco Rabanne passed away on Feb. 3, 2023, at the age of 88, announced Puig, the Spanish group that owns the brand’s fashion and fragrance businesses. Rabanne died in the village of Portsall, in the French region of Brittany, where he lived. Born in Spain on Feb. ...
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Candice Cooper founder Christoph Siegel dead at 68
Christoph Siegel, the founder of the Candice Cooper footwear brand, has died in Essen at the age of 68. The Bavarian-born shoe specialist started his career in the footwear industry more than 45 years ago as a sales representative with well-known brands such as Charles Jourdan. In 2007, ...
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Anna und Paul founder and managing director Sonja Rendez dies at 57
Sonja Rendez, the founder and long-time managing director of the Cologne-based children’s shoe company Anna und Paul GmbH, died on Dec. 14, 2022 at the age of 57. The fashion designer had been battling cancer. Rendez founded the company for baby crawling and walking shoes in 2001 and served ...
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Vivienne Westwood dies aged 81
Vivienne Westwood died on Dec. 29 at the age of 81, her namesake fashion house announced on Twitter. The British fashion designer died “peacefully and surrounded by her family, in Clapham, South London,” it said. Born Vivieen Swire on April 8, 1941, she kept the name of her first husband, ...
