- Freddy Heineken
Alfred Henry (Freddy) Heineken (
November 4 ,1923 ,Amsterdam ,Netherlands –January 3 2002 ) was a major stock holder and president ofHeineken International , thebrewing company bought in 1864 by his grandfatherGerard Adriaan Heineken inAmsterdam .He entered the service of the company (which by then was no longer owned by the family) on 1 June 1941 and bought back stock several years later, to ensure the family controlled the company again. He created the
Heineken Holding that owned 50.005% ofHeineken International and personally held a majority stake inHeineken Holding .By the time of his resignation as chairman of the board in 1989 he had transformed Heineken from a
brand that was known chiefly in the Netherlands to a brand that is currently famous worldwide.Freddy Heineken married Lucille Cummins, an American from a
Kentucky family ofbourbon whiskey distillers. They had one child,Charlene Heineken , who inherited his fortune in 2002.Kidnapping
Freddy Heineken and his chauffeur Ab Doderer were
kidnap ped in 1983 and released on a ransom of 35 million guilders (about 16 millionEuro s). The kidnappersCor van Hout ,Willem Holleeder ,Jan Boelaard andFrans Meijer were eventually caught. The first three served theirprison term in the Netherlands, but Meijer escaped and lived inParaguay for years, until he was discovered and imprisoned there. His friend John Kronenbourg tried to help him but died.Fact|date=March 2008
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