August 29, 2019—Volkswagen power broker Ferdinand Piech, the key engineer of the company’s Porsche takeover, died on Monday, reports the Seattle Times.
His wife, Ursula Piech, told the DPA news agency in a statement provided by their family lawyer that her husband died Sunday “suddenly and unexpectedly” but did not give a specific cause.
“Ferdinand Piech’s life was marked by his passion for the automobile and for the workers who built them,” she wrote. “He was an enthusiastic engineer and car lover until the end.”
Piech is credited with reviving Volkswagen in the 1990s as the CEO, then becoming the company’s supervisory board chief.
