Owner of Nutella empire, Michele Ferrero dies

Michele Ferrero, the world’s richest confectionery maker and the man famed for creating the Nutella spread and Ferrero Rocher died on Valentine’s Day.

The 89-year-old, who had been ill for several months, died yesterday in Monte Carlo, the company said.

Ferrero was the patriarch of the family-controlled Ferrero group best known for the chocolate-hazelnut Nutella spread, Ferrero Rocher pralines, Kinder eggs and Tic Tac sweets. The company is seen as Italy's most valuable privately-owned company.

His father, Pietro, started making Nutella when cocoa was still rationed during the Second World War, Forbes noted in ranking Mr Ferrero and his family 30th on the list of the world's richest billionaires in 2014, worth $23.4 billion. The company has sales of around €8 billion and has continued to grow through Italy’s longest recession since World War Two.

Until a few years ago, Ferrero commuted by helicopter every day from his Monte Carlo villa to company headquarters in Alba, northwest Italy, to taste and help design new products.

Twitter was flooded with messages from people who thanked Ferrero for "sweetening up" their lives.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella said he was deeply touched by Ferrero's death, calling him a "born entrepreneur". He praised  Ferrero as one of the leaders of the country's industry, saying he was "always ahead of his time thanks to innovative products and his tenacious work and reserved character."