Adolf Merckle commits suicide over losses

[RB TexLa]

German billionaire Adolf Merckle has committed suicide, in despair over the huge losses suffered by his business empire during the financial crisis, his family said on Tuesday. Skip related content

The media-shy billionaire, whose family controls some of Germany's best-known companies, was hit by a train on Monday evening, local officials said.

"The desperate situation of his companies caused by the financial crisis, the uncertainties of the last few weeks and his powerlessness to act, have broken the passionate family entrepreneur and he took his own life," a family statement said.

State prosecutors from the southern city of Ulm said Merckle, 74, left work on Monday and died after being hit by a train near the town of Blaubeuren. He left behind a suicide note to his family, they added.

There was no sign of anyone else being involved, they said.

In 2008 Merckle was ranked as the world's 94th-richest person and Germany's fifth-wealthiest by Forbes magazine.

On Tuesday pale blood stains still dotted the snow along the railway track where he died. The area looked deserted apart from a police car nearby.

Merckle, a father of four, inherited the basis of his fortune from his Bohemian grandfather, but went on to build up the chemical wholesale company into Germany's largest drugs wholesaler.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090106/tts-uk-merckle-13002c7.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I am sorry for his family. :^(

[mr_hat]

2. It was seeing the candelabras go at auction.

Yeah. Cruel.

[WriteDown]

3. Maybe he was upset about his employees that he was letting

down??? This man was not going to be poor.

[leftynyc]

10. Certainly possible but

don't expect any sympathy around here for anyone with money. Too many on this board think that rich=evil.

[WriteDown]

11. I know...

Still amazes me though.

[leftynyc]

20. There is a post downthread

about someone finding it hard not to laugh. Makes me sick. We're supposed to be the compassionate party.

[awoke_in_2003]

28. Could be...

I know that in Japan if an executive fails his company it is a great insult.

[SoCalDem]

4. Sad commentary..rather be dead than "not rich"..

:(

[dysfunctional press]

15. they stil would have been fairly rich by any standards...

just not as obscenely Uber-rich.

[SoCalDem]

18. That's what's really sad..

If they lost 99% of their fortune, they would have still had more than most people..but apparently that was not enough..

[napi21]

5. Was he related to Angela Merkle? n/t

[notadmblnd]

6. he couldn't bear to live life without his precious money, but he left his family to go it alone?

What a selfish pig.

[RB TexLa]

8. Oh no! A family without a MAN to provide for them! However could a woman provide for a family

:crazy:

[notadmblnd]

19. I wasn't thinking about it in the terms you seem to be....

but I can tell you, since my husband died, it's been tough for me. At least when he was alive, if one of us became unemployed or ill, we had the other to fall back on. I considered it a partnership. Now that he's gone and my job is too, well, life isn't so grand for this widow or the son he left. yeah, I get by without him, but I'd rather he still be here.

Thanks for your 2 cents though.

[arcadian]

7. I'm gonna call bullshit on this one. n/t

[leftstreet]

9. I'm sorry, but it's all I can do not to laugh

I'm terrible.

:spank:

[rurallib]

14. except that some poor train engineer has the forever memory

of hitting and killing a man.

[leftstreet]

16. That's very true

:(

[dysfunctional press]

21. the engineer didn't hit and kill him...the guy jumped in front of a moving train.

the engineer had no control over the situation, and bears no responsibility- legally, karmically, or otherwisely.

[rurallib]

22. I hope the engineer is able to not feel responsibility.

Many years ago I read stories of people who commit suicide by having someone else do the deed. Jump in front of a car or a train or get shot by a cop on purpose. The unwitting perpetrator is often filled with remorse and guilt forever.

[tama]

25. No

But it's the constant fear and nightmere of all train engineers - and happens all too often.

So folks, if you hate your life, don't end it by causing unnecessary suffering to innocent train engineers.

[Sultana]

12. Selfish man

there are people in this world with NOTHING yet they choose to go on and try to make ends meet.


I have no sympathy for this man or others like him.

[HelenWheels]

13. screwed up priorities

must add to the families grief - money/reputation was more important then they were.

[JVS]

17. A praiseworthy example for the rest of his class.

[tama]

23. Wanker

The last thing he decided to do with his miserable life, fuck up public transport and cause severe mental trauma to the railway worker. That's not the way to do a suicide, should have done it in the classic bankster way, jump of a tall building. Or pills.

Irresponsible in life, irresponsible in death. God forgive him.

[Connie_Corleone]

24. Did he inherit his wealth?

If not, he should know how to make more money.

Wealthy people who kill themselves over losing their money are weak compared to the millions of people who live paycheck to paycheck.

Just my opinion.

[mr_hat]

26. He lost $540 billion "betting" against VW

in the stock market. Boo hoo.

Merckle, whose companies employed 100,000 people across Europe, had been in the headlines frequently over the past weeks after he made wrong-way bets on shares in Volkswagen. His family lost hundreds of millions of euros, including €400m (£200m) on Volkswagen shares alone. It is not known how much of his personal fortune, which was estimated at 12.8bn in March 2008 by Forbes, had been lost.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/06/german-billionaire-broken-by-credit-crunch-kills-himself

[Ilsa]

27. The love of his family and friends wasn't enough to see him through?

So many people have so much less and live from moment to moment.

I feel more sorry for the train engineer and the authorities, morgue employees, etc who had to scrape him off the snow and the tracks.