The lead creator who brought Italy’s infamously delectable spread Nutella to fame, and Italy’s richest man, Michele Ferrero, has died in Rome at the age of 89.
Ferrero was the world’s wealthiest confectionary maker, following the worldwide success of Nutella, the spread that will always have an intimate place in our hearts, as well as the brand’s ferrero rochers, kinder surprises and tic tacs. Dare you imagine a world in which those morsels of heaven did not exist? We owe a lot to the man.
Nutella was largely conceived by Michele Ferrero’s father, Pietro Ferrero, who began making the spread from cocoa rations in World War II, and who had the legendary stroke of genius to stretch the ration by adding hazelnuts to a chocolate spread. Lives were irrevocably changed on that day, no doubt.
Ferrero’s fortune was worth $23.4 billion, according to Forbes. Ferrero died in Montecarlo following a long battle with illness.
Stop whatever the hell you’re doing, grab a spoon and an appropriately-sized glob of the good stuff in memory of Ferrero. Gone, but nutella forgotten. Rest in peace.
Via The Guardian.
Lead image by Justin Sullivan via Getty.
