Sergio Marchionne, the Italian-Canadian business magnate who was the chairman and CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the chairman and CEO of Ferrari and the chairman of Maserati till last week, died at 66 on Wednesday. Marchionne was in a critical condition at Zurich's University Hospital for complications after undergoing a surgical procedure on his right shoulder early this month.
"Unfortunately, what we feared has come to pass. Sergio Marchionne, man and friend, is gone," FCA chairman John Elkann, of the controlling Agnelli family, said in a statement. The deteriorating health condition of Marchionne prompted Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to replace him with the head of Jeep and Ram brands, Mike Manley, on July 22.
Sergio Marchionne was known for his masterstroke that saw the merger of the auto industry's weakest companies -- Fiat and Chrysler -- in 2014. The intervention of Marchionne made the Italian and American multinational corporation the world's seventh-largest automaker from the edge of closing down.
Born in Chieti near Italy's Adriatic coast on June 17, 1952, Marchionne had moved with his parents to Toronto in 1966. Marchionne joined Fiat in 2004. During his tenure at Fiat, Marchionne boosted the company's value more than tenfold. It was Marchionne's idea to spinoff supercar-maker Ferrari NV in 2015 from FCA, where Marchionne also served as CEO and chairman.
