Mustafa Vehbi Koc, chairman of Turkey’s biggest group of companies, died[1] at a hospital in Istanbul on Thursday after a heart attack. He was 55. Koç Holding said in a statement that funeral prayers for Koç would be performed at Teşvikiye Mosque on Jan. 24 and that he would be laid to rest in the family grave at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.He is survived by his wife Caroline and two daughters. He has two brothers, Ali and Omer.
The condolences would be accepted at Divan Hotel in Istanbul’s Taksim neighborhood for a week between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Mavi Boncuk |In Memoriam | Mustafa Vehbi Koç (b. 1960 istanbul - d. January 21, 2016 istanbul)
President Erdoğan had hosted Mustafa Koç and Ali Koç at the presidential palace in Ankara on Jan. 20, according to presidential sources. Koç was planning on the afternoon of Jan. 21 to fly to Zurich and Davos, where he was due to speak at the HeForShe event calling for gender equality.
Koc, the eldest grandson of Koc Holding AS[2] founder Vehbi Koç[3], has been the chairman of the group, whose 2014 sales of $31.3 billion accounted for about five percent of Turkey’s gross domestic product, since 2003, when he took the post from his father Rahmi Koc.
[1] Mustafa Koç, the chairman of Turkey's largest conglomerate, died of a heart attack on Jan. 21, the Vehbi Koç Foundation American Hospital in Istanbul has announced. He had been brought to Istanbul’s Beykoz State Hospital on the morning of Jan. 21. Koç was later transferred to the Vehbi Koç Foundation American Hospital (Amerikan Hastanesi), which his family owns, by helicopter. The Beykoz State Hospital had said Koç suffered a heart attack while exercising. First aid was provided by his bodyguard and exercise coach and he had been resuscitated at the hospital, it added. Mustafa Koç recently underwent weight loss surgery, and also had a history of heart problems. He underwent heart surgery in 2002, when three veins leading to his heart were opened with stents. The condition was noticed during a medical examination in the United States.
[2] Mustafa Koc’s term as chairman saw several landmark deals to expand the group’s business. They included the takeover of 51 percent of Tupras Turkiye Petrol Rafinerileri AS, the country’s sole crude oil refiner, from the government for $4.1 billion in 2005, and the purchase of 57 percent of lender Yapi Kredi Bankasi AS from Cukurova Holding AS for $1.5 billion, a deal it undertook in partnership with Italy’s Unicredit SpA in 2004.
The Istanbul-based conglomerate, founded in 1926 in Ankara, also has joint ventures with Fiat SpA in auto producer Tofas, and with Ford Motor Co. in Ford Otomotiv Sanayi AS. The group owns dozens of other companies including Turkey’s biggest home appliances maker Arcelik AS, heavy and military vehicles manufacturer Otokar Otomotiv ve Savunma Sanayi AS, liquefied gas producer Aygaz AS, and food producer Tat Gida Sanayi AS. Koç Holding made around 45 percent of Turkey’s car production and 43 percent of the country’s total car exports. Its share in the country’s total exports is around 10 percent. January/21/2016
Mustafa Koc completed his high school at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz in Switzerland. He graduated from the business school at George Washington University in Washington D.C. in 1984. He worked at several Koc Holding companies including Tofas and Ram Foreign Trade before joining the holding company. [3] Vehbi Koç was born on July 20, 1901, in Ankara and died on February 25, 1996, in İstanbul. In 1926, he married Sadberk, the daughter of his aunt on his mother's side. Starting in trade at a very young age, he built up a broad net of companies, and founded Koç Holding in 1963. He became the richest person in Turkey. His son Rahmi Mustafa and his three daughters, Semahat, Sevgi and Suna, succeeded him.