Former FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne dies aged 66

Former chief executive officer of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), Sergio Marchionne, has died. The Italian-Canadian executive’s passing was confirmed today by Exor, the holding company of Fiat’s founding Agnelli family. He was 66.

“Unfortunately what we feared has come to pass,” said FCA and Exor chairman John Elkann in a statement. “Sergio Marchionne, man and friend, is gone.”

The news comes just days after FCA replaced Marchionne at the helm of the company. The conglomerate said in a statement that he was suffering from complications that arose from a shoulder surgery, which worsened in the hours prior to the announcement, preventing him from returning to work.

The company had named Mike Manley, previously head of the Jeep and Ram brands, as Marchionne’s successor. Meanwhile, Louis Camilleri, former chairman of tobacco giant Philip Morris International, replaced him as the CEO of Ferrari – a company that Marchionne helped spin off from the FCA group in 2015. His place as Ferrari’s chairman was taken up by Elkann.

Marchionne rose to become the CEO of Fiat in 2004, and was instrumental in turning the company around from near bankruptcy. He was also the architect of a joint venture and eventual merger with Chrysler in 2009, during which the US carmaker was emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Formed in 2014, the FCA group is now the eighth largest carmaker in the world by production volume.

He is survived by his partner Manuela Battezzato, who works at FCA’s press office, as well as his two sons Alessio and Tyler.

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