Rudolph Spruengli, 88, Chairman of Lindt Chocolate Company
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Rudolph Spruengli, heir to a Swiss chocolate empire and head of the Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli AG for more than two decades, died Monday in Geneva at 88.
Spruengli was born into the Lindt & Spruengli chocolate dynasty in 1920 and spent his entire working life with the family firm. He was the fifth generation of the family to serve as chairman.
Under Spruengli’s leadership, company turnover increased tenfold and it became one of the world’s best-known premium chocolate producers, with a work force of 4,000. He listed Lindt & Spruengli on the Swiss stock exchange in 1986.
Widely dubbed “the chocolate king” and the “patriarch” because of his autocratic style, Spruengli also had a reputation for fending off potential challenges to his supremacy by other family members — including his own sons, Luzius and Rudolf.
Spruengli made headline news in 1992 when he divorced his wife of 45 years and announced plans to marry his 44-year-old assistant, a member of an obscure theosophical sect. Spruengli was forced to retire in the ensuing furor.
