Former Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has died, according to a statement released by the company earlier today. He was 66.
The statement came from John Elkann, chairman of Exor, the company that holds the major share of FCA. “Unfortunately, what we feared has come to pass. Sergio Marchionne, man and friend, is gone," Elkann said.
Over the weekend, Exor released a statement saying that Marchionne's health had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. At that time, it was announced that Marchionne would not be able to return to work and that he had been replaced as CEO of FCA and as Chairman and CEO of Ferrari.
Sergio Marchionne was born in Italy but moved to Canada as a child. He received degrees from the University of Toronto, York University, and the University of Windsor.
Marchionne was widely credited with saving Fiat. He was named CEO of the company in 2004 when it was suffering billions in losses. Within two years, he had returned the automaker to profit. He took the helm of Chrysler as part of that company's bankruptcy in 2009 and returned that automaker to success as well. He also pushed to complete the merger of the two companies in 2014
Taking his place at the helm of FCA will be Mike Manley. The executive in charge of Jeep and Ram who oversaw Jeep's rocketship climb from 320,000 sales in 2009 to 1.4 million in 2014. Exor CEO and Chairman John Elkann has taken the chairman's seat at Ferrari and former Phillip Morris executive Louis C. Camilleri has been named CEO at the sportscar maker.
