Turkish billionaire Şevket Sabancı dies at 85

Şevket Sabancı, a billionaire member of Turkey's Sabancı family, died at the age of 85, local media reported on July 22.

He was one of the four sons of Hacı Ömer Sabancı, the founder of companies that later formed Sabancı Holding, Turkey's second-largest industrial group.

Şevket Sabancı was the deputy chairman of Sabancı Holding until 2004.

Born in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri in 1936, he studied textile engineering at the University of Manchester.

He handed over the chairmanship of Esas Holding to his son, Ali Sabancı, on Jan. 1, 2020.

Esas Holding owns Pegasus Airlines, the country's biggest low-cost carrier, and it has a commercial real estate portfolio worth 2.5 billion euros.

Güler Sabancı, president of Sabancı Holding and a niece of Şevket Sabancı, expressed her condolences.

"We are in deep sorrow of losing Şevket Sabancı, a distinguished elder of Sabancı family, one of the founding brothers of our holding and my dear uncle," she said in a statement.