Friedrich Flick

Friedrich Flick (born 10 July 1883 in Ernsdorf, Siegerland; died 20 July 1972 in Constance) was a German industrialist, a member of the Flick industrial family, the richest person in West Germany during the Cold War and one of the richest people in the world at the time of his death in 1972. He initially built a fortune during World War I and became extremely wealthy during the Weimar Republic, establishing a major industrial conglomerate in the coal and steel industries. Despite being found guilty in the Nuremberg Flick Trial, and being sentenced to seven years, incl. time already served, he quickly became one of West Germany's richest people by the 1950s and the largest shareholder of Daimler-Benz. He was awarded numerous honours, including the Grand Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1963 and the Bavarian Order of Merit, and was an honorary senator of the Technical University of Berlin. At the time of his death, his industrial conglomerate encompassed 330 companies and around 300,000 employees. His heirs were his son Friedrich Karl Flick and his grandson Friedrich Christian Flick, who established the modern art gallery Friedrich Christian Flick Collection.