Roberto Bertazzoni, king of household appliances with Smeg, has died

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Roberto Bertazzoni, the “king of household appliances”, president of Smeg of Guastalla, which he had managed since the 1970s, died on Saturday evening at the age of 81.

Under his leadership, the Reggio Emilia giant that produces washing machines, refrigerators and cooking appliances has grown to employ 2,600 people with five factories in Italy and a turnover of 900 million euros per year. Smeg, founded in 1948 by Roberto Bertazzoni’s father, Vittorio, has long been a sponsor of Ferrari. The funeral will take place on Tuesday 2 April, at 11.30 in the cathedral of Guastalla, the town where Bertazzoni was born in December 1942. The entrepreneur lived in Parma and until recently sat on the board of directors of Mediobanca.

In 1993 he was named Knight of the Republic for his leadership of Smeg (acronym for Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla), «based on an entrepreneurial formula that combines management attention to quality, innovation, technology and product style».