Austrian construction industry titan Richard Lugner dies aged 91
Austrian entrepreneur Richard Lugner has died at the age of 91 at his mansion in Vienna.
Lugner was known as a titan in the construction industry, opening his own shopping mall, "Lugner City", in a working-class district of the Austrian capital in 1990.
At the time, it was the seventh-largest shopping centre in Austria.
Lugner was also recognised as a Viennese society figure who regularly surrounded himself with various celebrities
In 1992, the entrepreneur brought the US singer and actor Harry Belafonte to “Lugner City”, before inviting him to the world-famous Vienna Opera Ball.
From then on, he annually paid a celebrity to visit his shopping centre and then accompany him as his guest to the Vienna Opera Ball at the State Opera.
Lugner's celebrity guests included the likes of Joan Collins, Jane Fonda, Pamela Anderson, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton, among others.
Shift to politics
Richard Lugner ran twice as an independent candidate in the Austrian presidential elections, first in 1998 and then again in 2016.
In 1998, Lugner finished fourth out of five candidates, receiving just under 10 per cent of the popular vote.
He then set up his own platform called “Die Unabh?ngigen” (“The Independents”) which ran in the parliamentary elections the following year, however failed to win a seat in the Austrian National Assembly receiving only 1.02% of the vote.
Lugner ran again in the 2016 presidential elections at 84, making him the oldest presidential candidate in the Second Republic.
After receiving just 2.26% of the vote, he excluded himself from further candidatures.
Lugner was married six times. His latest wedding took place in June at Vienna City Hall, where he married the 42-year-old Simone Reil?nder.
His first marriage, to Christina Gmeiner, lasted from 1961 to 1978. He then married Cornelia Laufersweiler from 1979 to 1983.
His third wife, Suzanne Dietrich, died at only 34 years old due to complications following her cosmetic nose surgery, and he was married to his fourth wife, Christine Lugner, from 1991 to 2007.
In 2016, he married his sixth wife, Playboy model Cathy Schmitz, with whom there was a 57-year age gap.
He has four children, with his eldest son born in 1963.
