Luxottica’s founder went from orphan to one of the world’s richest men.
Leonardo Del Vecchio’s widowed mother placed him in Milan’s Martinitt orphanage at seven. He founded Luxottica in 1961, built the world’s largest eyewear company — Ray-Ban, Oakley, LensCrafters — and died worth about $25 billion. The same orphanage raised two other future tycoons. Edoardo Bianchi founded Bianchi bicycles, and Angelo Rizzoli founded Rizzoli publishing.
Luxottica on Brandseum