Oct 4 (Reuters) - Reinhard Mohn, the man who turned the provincial Bertelsmann publisher into a global media powerhouse, died on Saturday.
Following are five facts about Mohn:
- A great-great-grandson of Bertelsmann founder Carl Bertelsmann, Mohn wanted to become an engineer. But he abandoned that dream when he returned to his home town of Guetersloh in 1946 from a Kansas prisoner of war camp. Mohn, then 27, began clearing company headquarters of debris left from bombing raids with the help of around 100 employees and took over the company from his bedridden father without formal training.
- His brainchild -- the Bertelsmann book club, created in 1950 -- laid the foundation for the firm's transformation into one of the world's largest media groups. The clubs generated steady revenue streams which Mohn used to invest in magazine publishing, music, film and TV.
- Mohn was born on June 29 in 1921 in Guetersloh, a small town in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia and the location of Bertelsmann's headquarters. Known for his social conscience and lack of pretension, Mohn joined his staff for lunch at the company cafeteria every day.
- In 2006, Mohn and other members of the family stopped a potential public listing by pushing for a buyback of a 25-percent stake owned by Belgian holding company GBL for 4.5 billion euros ($6.54 billion).
- Mohn fathered three children with his first wife, whom he married in 1949. His second wife, Liz Mohn, was 17 when she caught Mohn's eye at a company event in 1958. She gave birth to three children by Mohn before they were married in 1982. Today she is a board member of the Bertelsmann Foundation and considered the key player behind the scenes.
(Compiled by Nicola Leske; editing by John Stonestreet)
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