Özdemir Sabancı (May 15, 1941 – January 9, 1996) was a Turkish businessman and a second generation member of the

Sabancı family The Sabancı family is one of the wealthiest families in Turkey according to the Forbes billionaires list of 2016, with an estimated fortune ranging between $20–30 billion. The family's main business entity was founded by Hacı Ömer Sabancı in ...

Biography

He was born in

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart of Cilicia, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. After finishing the high school at the Tarsus American College in Tarsus, province Mersin, he received his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials in ...

from the

University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...

(UMIST), UK. Later, he obtained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in the same discipline in Switzerland. Returned to Turkey, he worked in the

Sabancı Holding Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş., commonly abbreviated as Sabancı Holding, is an industrial and financial conglomerate with headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey. The company's primary activities are in financial services, energy (electricity generat ...

and soon founded and further developed the

synthetic fibre Synthetic fibers or synthetic fibres (in British English; see spelling differences) are fibers made by humans through chemical synthesis, as opposed to natural fibers that are directly derived from living organisms, such as plants (like cotton) ...

s producer Sasa, one of the biggest industrial companies of the group. Under his leadership, Sabancı Holding entered into the automotive sector. He established several

joint-venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

projects with major Japanese companies including production of

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 187 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

es and

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

s, Komatsu construction equipment,

loader Loader can refer to: * Loader (equipment) * Loader (computing) ** LOADER.EXE, an auto-start program loader optionally used in the startup process of Microsoft Windows ME * Loader (surname) * Fast loader * Speedloader * Boot loader ** LOADER ...

s and

forklift A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various ...

s. In 1990, he paved the way to produce

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

cars in Turkey as a consequence of the largest Turkish-Japanese partnership. In the board of directors of the holding, he was responsible for the Group of Synthetic Fibers, Automotive and Plastics. Özdemir Sabancı was gunned down on January 9, 1996, in his office in the strongly guarded Sabancı Towers in

Levent Levent is a neighbourhood and one of the main business districts of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European side of the city. It is a part of the municipality of Beşiktaş and is situated to the north of the Golden Horn, at the western sh ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, along with the general manager of ToyotaSA and a secretary by assassins hired by the leftist armed group

DHKP-C The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front ( tr, Devrimci Halk Kurtuluş Partisi-Cephesi or DHKP-C) is a far-left Marxist–Leninist Communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as Revolutionary Left (Turkish: or ), and has been inv ...

. They had been given access to the building by

Fehriye Erdal Fehriye Erdal (born 25 February 1977) is a Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front militant.. She was one of the three DHKP-C members involved in the assassination of a Turkish businessman, Özdemir Sabancı and two of his employees on 9 ...

, a female member of DHKP-C, who was an employee at that time. Recently released information has suggested that the assassination of Özdemir Sabancı's assassin Mustafa Duyar was planned by retired general Veli Küçük, who was detained in the Ergenekon investigation. Özdemir Sabancı was laid to rest at the Adana Asri Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Sevda, his son Demir and his daughter Serra (1975).UnforgettablesUnutamadıklarımız
(official obituary)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabanci, Ozdemir 1941 births Businesspeople from Adana Tarsus American College alumni Ozdemir Sabanci 1996 deaths Assassinated Turkish businesspeople Deaths by firearm in Turkey People murdered in Turkey Terrorism deaths in Turkey Turkish terrorism victims Burials at Adana Asri Cemetery 1996 murders in Turkey

Biography

See also

References