"Reinhard Mohn, the former chief executive of BMG parent company Bertelsmann, has died, aged 88.

Mohn, who died on Saturday (Oct. 3) in Gütersloh, was the great-great-grandson of the German media group's founder Carl Bertelsmann. Although he resigned as chief executive in 1981, he remained chairman of Bertelsmann's board until 1991 and at the time of his death was still honorary chairman of its supervisory board. His wife Liz and children Christoph and Brigitte remain on the supervisory board.

In a statement, Bertlesmann chaiman/CEO Hartmut Ostrowski said: "Bertelsmann mourns the loss of one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our age. Our thoughts are with Reinhard Mohn's family, especially with his widow Liz and his children. We pay tribute to him and his life's work, and see it as our mandate to express our gratitude and respect by upholding and advancing Bertelsmann and its culture of partnership, in his spirit."

Mohn was born in Guetersloh and took over at the head of the company in 1947 after being repatriated from a U.S. prisoner-of-war camp.

In over 60 years of active service with the group, he is credited with building Bertelsmann from its immediate post-war status as a German printer and book publisher (founded in 1835) into an international enterprise, which today employs more than 100,000 people in over 50 different countries. Key to Bertesmann's expansion under Mohn was its involvement with the booming mail order book club business during the 1950s.

Under his stewardship, Bertelsmann also entered the music industry during the 1950s by launching Ariola Records. In the late 1970s, Ariola acquired the Arista label, followed in 1986 by RCA. In 1987, the three labels were brought together to form the Berteslmann Music Group (BMG) along with BMG Music Publishing.

BMG's recorded music arm became part of the Sony BMG joint venture in 2004 and was eventually acquired outright by Sony Music in 2008. BMG Music Publishing had previously been sold to Universal Music Publishing in 2007, but Bertelsmann re-entered the music market in October 2008 when it launched BMG Rights Management. In July this year, (billboard.biz, July 8), investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts took a 51% stake in that operation for a reported €250 million ($348.2 million).

Bertlesmann's other companies include broadcaster RTL and publishers Gruner & Jahr and Random House." (Source: Billboard)

His contributions to the entertainment industry will not soon be forgotten. R.I.P Mr. Mohn.