http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/mining/10142941/Marc-Rich-father-of-commodity-trading-and-former-fugitive-dies-aged-78.html

Marc Rich, father of commodity trading and former fugitive, dies aged 78

Marc Rich, the controversial father of oil and commodity trading and founder of commodity giant Glencore Xstrata, has died at the age of 78.

He died at home in Switzerland, according to the head of his charitable foundation.

"Marc Rich passed away this morning at his home in Lucerne. He will be brought to Israel for burial," Avner Azulay, managing director of Marc Rich Foundation, told Reuters.

Mr Rich, who founded the company that eventually become Glencore Xstrata, is credited from setting up the first oil trading operation that was not part of an oil company in the 1960s, and establishing the first global spot market.

He gained notoriety when he fled to Switzerland from the US in the 1980s to duck Federal charges of wire fraud, racketeering and trading with Iran during an embargo. He was also charged with evading $48m of taxes.

President Bill Clinton later pardoned him, representing one of the most controversial pardons he dealt out - not least because of donations by his ex-wife to Democrat causes.

Ivan Glasenberg, the billionaire chief executive of Glencore Xstrata, said: "We are saddened to hear of the death of Marc. He was a friend and one of the great pioneers of the commodities trading industry, founding the company that became Glencore. Our deepest sympathies and condolences are with his family at this time."

Glencore this year completed its merger with miner Xstrata, creating one of the biggest commodity companies in the world. Mr Rich no longer held shares in the company, having been bought out in the management buyout of 1994 - which was when it Marc Rich & Co was renamed Glencore.