Spanish PM praises Andic’s ‘great work and entrepreneurial vision’ after his death in hiking accident in Catalonia. Tributes have been paid to Isak Andic, the billionaire founder of the Spanish high-street fashion chain Mango, after his death in a hiking accident in Catalonia on Saturday.
According to media reports, Andic, who was 71, died after slipping and falling 100 metres down a ravine while hiking in the Montserrat caves near Barcelona with several family members. Mango confirmed his death in a statement on Saturday, describing Andic as “an example to us all” and a committed and inspiring leader.
“His legacy reflects the achievements of a business project marked by success, and also by his human quality, his proximity, and the care and affection that he always had and at all times conveyed to the entire organisation,” the statement said. “His departure leaves a huge void, but all of us are, in some way, his legacy and the testimony of his achievements. It is up to us, and this is the best tribute we can make to Isak and which we will fulfil, to ensure that Mango continues to be the project that Isak aspired to and of which he would feel proud.”.
Born to a Sephardic Jewish family in Istanbul in 1953, Andic emigrated to Catalonia with his relatives in the late 1960s, where he started selling T-shirts to fellow students at Barcelona’s American high school. The young entrepreneur subsequently progressed to running a wholesale business, selling clothes in Barcelona’s street markets, but realised there was more money in retail and opened the first Mango store in the Catalan capital in 1984 as Spain was still emerging from the shadow of the Franco dictatorship.
