Gilberto Benetton, the co-founder of clothing brand the Benetton clothing firm, has died aged 77.
The Italian group, which was founded in the 60s by Gilberto with brothers Luciano and Carlo and sister Giuliana, announced the news in a brief statement on Monday.
“Gilberto Benetton died at home today in Treviso [north-east Italy] following a brief illness. His wife, Lalla, daughters Barbara and Sabrina and son-in-law Ermanno were with him in his final moments.”
The brand’s fame was fuelled by various ad campaigns. Oliviero Toscani is the Italian photographer who was behind ad campaigns including the ad with a newborn baby with an umbilical cord, a nun and priest kissing, a man with Aids, on his deathbed.
The iconic 1989 poster features a black woman breastfeeding a white baby.
In June, the fashion brand was criticized for the ad campaign advertising campaign featuring images of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean.
German charity SOS Méditerranée condemned the advert.
“SOS Méditerranée fully dissociates itself from this campaign, which displays a picture taken while our teams were rescuing people in distress at sea,” the charity said in a statement.
Gilberto Benetton was also the vice-president of Edizione, which controls Italy’s biggest infrastructure group Atlantia.
Last year, Edizione reported an annual revenue of €12.1 billion ($13.8 billion).
Gilberto has been credited with diversifying the brand away from the clothing business and growing it into a multi-billion euro company.