Eliane Heilbronn, the matriarch behind the Chanel luxury empire, has died at the age of 99.
The fashion house confirmed Heilbronn’s death in a statement Monday, adding that her funeral will be held privately.
Born Eliane Fischer in 1925, Heilbronn had an accomplished career as a lawyer. In 1982 she helped draft the contract that brought artistic designer Karl Lagerfeld, who died in 2019, to Chanel.
Heilbronn’s sons Alain and Gerard Wertheimer own the Chanel luxury brand, and hold fortunes estimated at about $42 billion each, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Heilbronn in 1947 married Jacques Wertheimer, whose father Pierre was a co-owner of Chanel. They later divorced.
Five years later she married Didier Heilbronn, a lawyer with whom she had a son, Charles Heilbronn, who heads the Wertheimer family office Mousse Partners.
By Angelina Rascouet
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