COPENHAGEN, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iconic Danish entrepreneur Lars Larsen, one of the richest men in Denmark, died at his home in Denmark on Monday, at the age of 71.
"Lars Larsen early today died quietly in his sleep at his home in Silkeborg with his closest family by his side," announced his company JYSK in a press release on Monday.
With an estimated fortune of over 5 billion U.S. dollars, Larsen was well-known to the nation.
JYSK currently has over 2,700 shops and over 23,000 employees.
Diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. Larsen chose to hand over the chair of the Lars Larsen Group to his son Jacob Brunsborg in June.
"Today we have lost our father, husband, and grandfather, and Denmark has lost a unique grocer. He will be missed by all of us, and when we have grieved for our great loss, we will continue to do our best to continue his impressive life work," said Brunsborg in a press release released on Monday.
Larsen leaves behind a wife, Kristine Brunsborg and children Jacob and Mette Brunsborg, as well as four grandchildren.
In 2016, Lars Larsen made provisions so that his four grandchildren would be Danish billionaires. Each of the grandchildren owns between 15 and 20 percent of a division of his company, Jysk Holding.
In 2018, the equity of the company was estimated at 13.3 billion DKK (1.98 billion U.S.dollars).
