Yıldız Holding founder Sabri Ülker dies at 92

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Sabri Ülker started his carrier at a small biscuists shop in Istanbul’s Eminönü. Company Photo

Sabri Ülker, the founder of Yıldız Holding and one of the first generation industrialists and pioneering entrepreneurs, has passed away. He was 92 years old.

Ülker was born in 1920 in Crimea, now an autonomous republic of Ukraine, and migrated to Turkey in 1929. He made his first investment in the biscuit business in 1944, in an atelier in Istanbul’s traditional business district Eminönü. His started exports in 1974 and commenced chocolate production in Istanbul in 1979.

His business took off in the 1980s with a diversifying product range using vegetable oil, milk and dairy products. Yıldız, which includes Ülker Group, has become a major Turkish manufacturer of food products, exporting them to more than 100 countries. Sabri Ülker was also one of the founding members of the Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats (TEMA). The funeral ceremony will be held today at the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul.