Paolo Pininfarina, the Italian business leader credited with expanding his family’s automotive enterprise into architecture and other areas of the design field, has died in Turin at the age of 65. The Pininfarina Chairman was known as a visionary who designed more than 600 cars after completing his engineering studies at the Polytechnic University in his home city.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, the Board of Statutory Auditors, and all Pininfarina employees, I express deep sorrow and condolences for the loss of our dear Chairman," Pininfarina's CEO, Silvio Angori, said in a press release. 

"We are all extremely grateful to Eng. Pininfarina for his extraordinary contribution to the company and for always passionately advocating for our history and corporate identity both in terms of style and ethical and behavioral choices," his statement continued. "I am personally grateful to him for confirming me in the leadership of the company following the passing of Andrea Pininfarina in 2008. Over these years, we have shared many triumphs and challenges, always advising and supporting each other. The best way to honor his memory is to continue, as he would want, to commit ourselves to the future of Pininfarina."

Two recent commissions — the new Light Towers in Mérida, Mexico, and Andare Residences in Fort Lauderdale — have helped expand the company’s architectural footprint into North America. 

The Pininfarina brand is, of course, synonymous with automotive design but has also created many industrial designs in addition to its portfolio of award-winning architectural designs across southern Europe. His late father Sergio was also the company's Chairman and was named a Senator for Life by the Italian Republic in September 2005.

Pininfarina's death follows the passing of another influential Italian design figure, Gaetano Pesce, who passed away last week in Manhattan at the age of 84.