Farewell to a giant
Michael and Ariane Batterberry reports.
| More Front Burner in this issue |
| Top of the tower |
| Tuiles on wheels |
| Aussie oil in a box |
| Lemongrass and ant eggs |
| Sad good-bye |
| Egg safety |
| Gastronomic U |
It is with deep sadness that we mark the passing, in Trieste, of the brilliant retired chairman of the renowned Italian coffee company, illy caffè;.
Much more than the head of a corporation, Dr. Ernesto Illy was above all a master scientist with a passionate interest in coffee who traveled the world in an effort to know each and every coffee region intimately and who founded his own laboratory so that he could study on a molecular level what he had found on a global level. In his research laboratory, Dr. Illy, who trained as a chemist before succeeding his father, the founder of illy caffè, produced numerous patents, making illy caffè the leader in innovation and technology in the coffee industry.
Most importantly, Dr. Illy was actively concerned about the well-being of the coffee growers and workers in bean producing regions with whom he had ties, many of them in the Third World. His efforts on their behalf, along with his great economic, social, and structural contributions, were such that he was made an honorary citizen of Monte Carmelo in Brazil.
A profound moral force, Dr. Illy was an unfailing enlightener in whichever language he chose to express himself. Intimate dinners we were lucky to share with him over the past 20 years demonstrated this time and again. We appreciate how deep must be his family's and business associates' sense of loss. As his son Andrea, into whose hands the direction of the company was entrusted in 2005, once eloquently put it, "We prefer slower development, consistency. We are building a cathedral." This they achieved.
In no more appropriate place could Ernesto Illy's abiding spirit come to rest.
