Maria Franca Ferrero, wife of the inventor of Nutella, died
At 87, the honorary life president of the Alba-based group with a turnover of 19.3 billion and 48,000 employees steps down
by R.I.T.
Maria Franca Ferrero, born Fissolo, widow of Michele Ferrero, patriarch of the confectionary group now headed by his son Giovanni, died at the age of 87 in her home in Alba, in the province of Cuneo. On 19 December last, she was unanimously nominated by the extraordinary assembly of Ferrero International as honorary president for life.
Born in Savigliano, also in the Langhe region, on 21 January 1939, Maria Franca Ferrero had attended the school for interpreters in Milan after high school and in 1961 she was hired as a translator and interpreter in the company in Alba, which was about to become a multinational.
With Michele, inventor of the "Supercrema" that would later evolve into the global bestseller Nutella, it was love at first sight: the couple married in 1962. A year later, their firstborn son Pietro was born. In 1964, Giovanni was born, the current president of the group that counts 36 production plants, a presence in over 170 countries for a consolidated turnover of 19.3 billion as at 31 August and 48,697 employees globally.
The last few years have been marked by mourning: first for the untimely death of Pietro, who died in South Africa in 2011 of an illness, then for the death of her husband in 2015. Away from the spotlight, Maria Franca Ferrero continued her philanthropic efforts, which earned her, among others, the National Italian American Foundation award in the United States. In 2024, she was awarded the title of cavaliere di gran croce al merito della repubblica italiana. With her son Giovanni, she leaves behind her daughters-in-law Paola and Luisa and five grandchildren.
In December, the Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting of Ferrero International, one of the Group's two holding companies, had amended the company's Articles of Association and appointed Maria Franca Ferrero as Honorary Chairman for life. The appointment, said a note, is 'a dutiful recognition and expression of strong gratitude for her more than twenty-seven years as director and Chairman of the Company, as well as for her valuable support and advice alongside her husband Michele Ferrero, founder of the Group, over a period of more than fifty years'.
