Construction industry Building tycoon, politician and TV star Richard Lugner dead at 91

He brought Hollywood to the Vienna Opera Ball and only concluded his sixth marriage in June to great media acclaim. Now the busy Austrian entrepreneur Richard Lugner has died unexpectedly.

Born in Vienna, he died on Monday at the age of 91, as family circles confirmed to the news agency DPA. Lugner was best known for his media-effective appearances at the Vienna Opera Ball, usually accompanied by Hollywood stars.

It was only in June that Lugner married for the sixth time - this time to a woman decades his junior, Simone Reiländer (42). Recently, however, he has had some health problems. He underwent heart surgery in July. A week ago, standing on crutches and accompanied by his wife, he shared a commercial on Facebook in which he advertised a piercing studio in his shopping center.

Lugner has celebrated his attendance at the Vienna Opera Ball for more than 30 years. He always had famous company. This year he had Elvis Presley's widow Priscilla Presley, in 2023 it was US actress Jane Fonda.

Successful construction entrepreneur

The serious side of his life is less well known. In Vienna in the 1960s, he was very successful as a building contractor, particularly in the revitalization of old buildings. In 1975, he was awarded a contract to build a mosque in Vienna. At times, his construction company had more than 600 employees.

In 1990, he opened his shopping center "Lugner City" in Vienna with more than 100 stores. The advertising for "Lugner City" was the economic background to his proximity to Hollywood. For this reason, the stars purchased for the Opera Ball had to give press conferences and autograph sessions there.

Excursions into politics

Lugner, who repeatedly campaigned for stores to open on Sundays, made two forays into politics: in 1998 and 2016, he ran for the office of Federal President.

In 1998, he achieved a highly respectable result of almost ten percent of the vote, whereas in 2016 he was barely able to convince voters. In the end, only 2.3 percent voted for him. In any case, he had only shouldered the hardships and costs of an election campaign at the insistence of his young wife.

However, Lugner was primarily known to Austrians as a TV star. In the reality soap "Die Lugners", "Mörtel" revealed his private life in around 100 episodes on private television (ATV) from 2003. "Mörtel": that was the nickname of the Viennese building contractor.