18.10.2010 - Vinexpo news selection
Kilian Hennessy, patriarch of the cognac company that bears his name and who played a major role in the firm’s development, died on 1st October, aged 103.
He was Managing Director of the trading company in the 1970’s. He died in Switzerland, where he spent time as well as living in the Charente area of south-west France.
Kilian Hennessy belonged to the fifth generation of Richard Hennessy’s family from Ireland, who founded the cognac brand in 1765.
He contributed to the association of the Hennessy brand with Moët & Chandon champagnes in 1971, before the Louis Vuitton - Moët – Hennessy (LVMH) Group was founded in 1987. Kilian Hennessy was still a member of the LVMH board. (AFP / 3 October 2010)