Bettencourt was the daughter of Eugene Schueller who founded L’Oreal. She passed away in the early hours of Thursday according to a statement by her daughter Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, at the age of 94 years.
“Liliane Bettencourt died this night at home. She would have been 95 on October 21. My mother left peacefully,” the statement read.
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Mrs Bettencourt was ranked the richest woman in the world with a fortune of $39.5 billion last year, making her the world’s 14th richest person. She joined her father’s firm as an apprentice at the age of 15, mixing cosmetics and labelling bottles of shampoo. In 1950, she married French politician Andre Bettencourt and inherited the family fortune when her father died in 1957. She was a victim of dementia during the later part of her life.
In a statement, L’Oréal chairman and CEO Jean-Paul Agon expressed his condolences to the family and said: “We all had a deep admiration for Liliane Bettencourt who has always watched over L’Oréal, the company and its employees, and who was very attached to its success and development.
“She personally contributed a lot to its success for very many years.
“A great woman of beauty has left us and we will never forget her.”
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