Freddy Heineken

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Alfred Henry (Freddy) Heineken (November 4, 1923 - January 3, 2002) was a major stock holder and president of Heineken, the beer brewery bought in 1864 by his grandfather Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Heineken was born in Amsterdam.

He entered the service of the company (which by then was no longer owned by the family) on 1 June 1941 and bought back stock several years later, to ensure the family controlled the company again.

By the time of his resignation as chairman of the board in 1989 he had turned Heineken from a brand that was famous in the Netherlands to a brand that was famous worldwide.

[edit] Kidnapping

Freddy Heineken and his chauffeur Ab Doderer were kidnapped in 1983 and released on a ransom of 35 million guilders (about 16 million Euros). The kidnappers Cor van Hout, Willem Holleeder, Jan Boelaard and Frans Meijer were eventually caught. The first three served their prison term in the Netherlands, but Meijer escaped and lived in Paraguay for years, until he was discovered and imprisoned there. His friend John Kronenbourg tried to help him but died.

Freddy Heineken married Lucille Cummins, an American from a Kentucky family of bourbon whiskey distillers. They had one child, Charlene Heineken, who inherited his fortune in 2002.