The patriarch of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller, died in a hospital in Copenhagen on April 16, aged 98. He was the son of Arnold Peter Møller – founder of the AP Moller Maersk group. “Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller became joint owner of the company Firmaet AP Møller in 1940. Following his father’s death in 1965, he became director and chairman of the most important companies in the AP Møller-Maersk Group. He undertook the daily management until 1993 and was chairman until 2003,” one of his three daughters, Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla, said in a statement. "My sisters and I have lost a father who never failed his family or his business.” At the time of his death, he was chairman of the Board of the AP Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation, the AP Møller Relief Foundation, and the Maersk Employee Foundation, all of which are significant shareholders of APM. He joined the company before World War II, and was instrumental in its growth and expansion. He was born on July 13, 1913 in Copenhagen to Kentucky-born mother Chastine Estelle Roberta McKinney and became a partner in the family company in 1940. His wife of 65 years, Emma, died in 2005 and he is survived by his three daughters. According to a tribute published by the New York Times, even after resigning as chairman in 2003, he continued to come to work each day, packing his lunch at home and climbing six flights of stairs to his office. And he continued to perform a birthday ritual: on July 13, each employee around the world received the gift of a Danish pastry.
