9 months ago

Notable Business Figures Who Died in 2025

In 2025, many important people in business and finance passed away.

These people did different things, like owning big companies, being in charge of banks, and creating famous products.

For example, Virginia McCaskey owned the Chicago Bears, Horst Paulmann started a huge store in South America, and George Foreman was a famous boxer who also sold grills.

Giorgio Armani was a famous fashion designer.

These people were all very successful and left a big impact on the world.

Some of them were very old, like David Murdock who was 102, and some were younger, like Wesley LePatner who was 43.

They all did important things in their lives that we remember.

Key facts

Virginia McCaskey: Died on Feb. 6 at 102, inherited Chicago Bears
Horst Paulmann: Died on March 11 at 89, founded Cencosud SA
Lee Shau-Kee: Died on March 17 at 97, founded Henderson Land Development Co.
George Foreman: Died on March 21 at 76, two-time heavyweight boxing champion and entrepreneur
Stef Wertheimer: Died on March 26 at 98, sold Iscar Metalworking Cos. to Warren Buffett
Wayne Angell: Died on April 19 at 94, former Federal Reserve Board of Governors member
Jose “Pepe” Mujica: Died on May 13 at 89, former Uruguayan president who legalized cannabis
Charles Rangel: Died on May 26 at 94, US congressman from Harlem
Stanley Fischer: Died on May 31 at 81, former vice chairman of the US Federal Reserve
Edgar Lungu: Died on June 5 at 68, former Zambian president
David Murdock: Died on June 9 at 102, longtime owner of Dole Food Co.
Leonard Lauder: Died on June 14 at 92, built Estée Lauder Cos.
William Bagley: Died on June 9 at 96, founding chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Fred Smith: Died on June 21 at 80, founder of FedEx Corp.
S. Daniel Abraham: Died on June 29 at 100, founder of Slim-Fast meal-replacement shakes
Wesley LePatner: Died on July 28 at 43, top executive in Blackstone Inc.'s real estate business
Donald Weeden: Died on July 24 at 95, chairman of Weeden & Co.
Morton Meyerson: Died on Aug. 5 at 87, top aide at Ross Perot's Electronic Data Systems Corp.
Goh Cheng Liang: Died on Aug. 12 at 98, founded Nippon Paint South East Asia
Jackie Bezos: Died on Aug. 14 at 78, early investor in Amazon.com Inc.
Charles Plosser: Died on Aug. 14 at 76, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Raymond Mason: Died on Aug. 22 at 88, expanded Legg Mason Inc.
Giorgio Armani: Died on September 4 at 91, fashion designer and founder of Armani
Robert Redford: Died on Sept. 16 at 89, actor, director, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival
Takatoshi Ito: Died on Sept. 20 at 74, Columbia University professor and economist
Oscar Wyatt: Died on Oct. 8 at 101, Houston oilman and founder of Coastal Corp.
Douglas Lebda: Died on Oct. 12 at 55, founder and CEO of LendingTree Inc.
Francisco Pinto Balsemão: Died on Oct. 21 at 88, Portuguese political figure and media empire builder
Alfred Broaddus: Died on Oct. 26 at 86, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Gopichand Hinduja: Died on Nov. 4 at 85, chairman of the Hinduja Group
Claude Bebear: Died in early November at 90, built Axa SA into a major insurer
Bodil Nyboe Andersen: Died on Nov. 27 at 85, Denmark's first female central bank governor
Hans-Joerg Rudloff: Died on Dec. 1 at 85, European finance figure and Eurobond market transformer
Frank Gehry: Died on Dec. 5 at 96, architect known for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Arthur Carter: Died on Dec. 7 at 93, investment banker and publisher
Robert Mnuchin: Died on Dec. 19 at 92, pioneer of block trading at Goldman Sachs
Louis Gerstner: Died on Dec. 27 at 83, former IBM chairman and CEO