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AFP
Published
Oct 4, 2010
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Cognac magnate Kilian Hennessy dies at 103

By
AFP
Published
Oct 4, 2010

BORDEAUX, France, Oct 3, 2010 (AFP) - Kilian Hennessy, the patriarch of the eponymous cognac distillery, has died at the age of 103, the mayor of the French town of Saint-Brice where he resided said on Sunday.


Hennessy, who was CEO of the family firm in the 1970s, died Friday in Switzerland where he also resided part time, Saint-Brice mayor Andre Pelletant told AFP.

A member of the fifth generation of the family of Irishman Richard Hennessy who founded the brand in 1765, Kilian Hennessy steered the company into a merger with the Moet & Chandon champagne house to create Moet-Hennessy in 1971.

The company then became part of the Louis Vuitton - Moet Hennessy (LVMH) luxury group in 1987, where Kilian Hennessy was still an advisory board member until his death.

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