IKEA says founder Ingvar Kamprad has died at 91

Ingvar Kamprad, the IKEA founder who turned a small-scale mail order business into a global furniture empire, has died at 91, the company says.

IKEA Sverige, the chain’s Swedish unit, says on Twitter that Kamprad died Saturday at his home in Smaland, Sweden.

Ingvar Kamprad har i stillhet somnat in i sitt hem i Småland. Han föddes 1926 i Småland och redan som 17-åring grundade han IKEA. Ingvar kommer att vara mycket saknad och varmt ihågkommen av sin familj och av IKEA-medarbetare över hela världen. pic.twitter.com/RWTGtukeyI

— IKEA Sverige (@IKEASverige) January 28, 2018

“He will be much missed and warmly remembered by his family and IKEA staff all around the world,” the company says.

Born March 30, 1926, Kamprad was a precocious entrepreneur who sold matchboxes to neighbors from his bicycle. He found that he could buy them in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm, and sell them at a low price but still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds, and later ballpoint pens and pencils.

Later in life, his name often appeared on lists of the world’s richest men, but he never adopted the aura of a tycoon. He drove a modest Volvo and dressed unassumingly. In a 1998 book that he co-authored about IKEA’s history, he described his habit of visiting vegetable street markets right before they closed for the day, hoping to get a better price on their goods.

— AP