Dutch beer magnate Alfred Henry Heineken who died on January 3rd aged 78, turned the Amsterdam brewery established by his grandfather in 1864 into a global household name, and himself into one of Holland's richest men.
Affectionately known as "Freddy", he was born in Amsterdam on November 4th, 1923. At the age of 18 he followed his father into the family business, and first worked in the publicity department, before becoming president from 1971 to 1989.
He was credited with transforming the firm's fortunes through a series of innovate marketing schemes. He chose Heineken's distinctive green glass bottle, selected the company logo, and often remarked he would have become an advertising man if he hadn't become a brewer. "I don't sell beer," he was fond of saying. "I sell warmth."
He was known for his love of music, architecture, film and photography, and brimmed over with ideas, opinions and plans, including a scheme to dig tunnels for a metro system under Amsterdam's famous canals.
His most notable failure was the "World Bottle", a square beer bottle which he believed could be used as a brick to help solve environmental pollution and housing shortages in developing nations. Heineken management, however, felt the square flask did not reflect the right image for a top-market beer.
The boyish-faced entrepreneur acquired his penchant for advertising in the US, where he worked in the sales office of Heineken's importer from 1946 to 1948. It was in the US that he met and wed his American wife, Lucille Cummins.
With a passion for private jets and fast cars, Alfred Heineken won a reputation as one of the Netherlands' most flamboyant entrepreneurs.
But he also had an interest in social and cultural affairs and in 1964 established the Dr H.P. Heineken Foundation, in honour of his father, under which awards were made to the sciences and the arts.
Alfred Heineken was kidnapped along with his chauffeur in November 1983, and chained to the wall of an empty Amsterdam factory for three weeks. He was only freed after a ransom of 35 million guilders was paid. Asked later about the ordeal, he joked that he had "finally benefited from my poor memory".
After the kidnapping, he cut down drastically on public appearances and media interviews, although he still savoured a rich social life including friendships with the Dutch royal family and American singer Frank Sinatra.
In a rare recent interview, he expounded on death. "It is not all that dreadful to die," he said, "because it was not all that bad before you were born." Another characteristic remark of his was: "In the end, life is all about advertising."
Alfred Heineken kept tight control over the family firm throughout his life. He chaired Heineken NV from 1971 to 1989. From 1989 he was chairman and delegate member of the Heineken Holding supervisory board. This was his last official position within Heineken NV. He did however remain the majority shareholder and chairman of the Management Board of Heineken Holding NV, the company which holds the controlling interest in Heineken NV.
While training in the US in the 1940s, he wrote his father Henry Pierre, who ran the company from 1914 to 1940, a partly prophetic letter. "I have my mind set on restoring the majority of shares in Heineken into the hands of the family. It's not my plan to become very rich . . . but it is a matter of pride that any children I might have can inherit a stake in Heineken, like I did from my father and you inherited from your father."
He secured a controlling stake in Heineken in the early 1950s and succeeded his father as a member of the brewer's supervisory board in 1951. Having sat in on its meetings since 1954, he was officially appointed to the Heineken executive board in 1964, in charge of the financial side.
Under his tenure, the company became the world's second biggest brewer by beer volumes, with more than 110 breweries in over 50 countries, including the Murphy Brewery in Cork which it acquired in 1983. Worldwide, Heineken had a turnover of €4.5 billion in the first half of 2001
His only daughter Charlene will take over the family's majority stake in Heineken Holding.
Alfred Heineken is survived by his wife Lucille and daughter Charlene.
Alfred Henry Heineken: born 1923; died, January 2002