Maersk patriarch, Mc-Kinney Moller, dies at 98

16 April 2012, Sweetcrude, Copenhagen - Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller, the Danish shipping and offshore mogul, has died, aged 98.
The patriarch of the giant AP Moller-Maersk dynasty passed on in a Copenhagen hospital on Monday, the group confirmed.

Mc-Kinney Moller set up and established Maersk as a giant in the container shipping business. But, the group also comprises Maersk Oil, Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Service.

Expected to take over from his father is Ane Maersk Mc-Kinney Uggla, one of the magnate’s three daughters.

Ane, who is also expected to largely inherit control of the family coffers, said of her father’s passing: “On behalf of the entire family, I wish to express our deep sorrow at the loss of our father, grandfather and great grandfather, Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller.

“My sisters and I have lost a father who never failed neither his family nor his business.”
Michael Pram Rasmussen, chairman of AP Moller-Maersk AS, said Denmark had “lost one of the few truly international businessmen” the country has produced.

“Until the end, (he) remained strongly committed on a personal level in the company’s business. Every week you would meet him on his way up the stairs to the sixth floor at the Esplanaden headquarters in Copenhagen, where he followed developments closely.

“Should issues in the business require an opinion or comment, (he) always made his position clear in no uncertain terms accompanied with wit and always based on thorough knowledge of the company and the history.”

Chief executive of AP Moller-Maersk Group, Nils Andersen, said: “(He) made decisions on significant investments which has made the group’s activities leading in the world within shipping and oil exploration.”