(MENAFN- Khaama Press) Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a multibillionaire media magnate, passed away on Monday after being rushed to a hospital in Milan on Friday for tests related to his leukaemia, according to aides.
He died at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. In April, he was treated for a lung infection linked to leukaemia.
He was admitted three weeks after being released from Milan's San Raffaele hospital after a six-week hospitalization. During that time, doctors discovered he had rare blood cancer.
Berlusconi's death leaves a“huge void”, Italy's defence minister said, with a national day of mourning due on Wednesday.
He was Italy's longest-serving prime minister after the war and had bounced back from sex and corruption scandals.
Between 1994 and 2011, Berlusconi served as prime minister of Italy three times for nine years, luring voters with promises of prosperity only to be ousted when a debt catastrophe engulfed his country.
Due to his broad TV, newspaper, and sporting interests, however, his influence went far beyond politics, and even in his later years, his playboy antics kept him in the news.
“Silvio Berlusconi made history in this country,” ex-prime minister Matteo Renzi said on Facebook.
“Many loved him, many hated him: everyone today must recognize that his impact on political but also economic, sporting and television life was unprecedented,” he said.
AFP stated that Berlusconi is survived by his 33-year-old girlfriend Marta Fascina, two ex-wives, and five children, some of whom assist in managing his empire, which was recently estimated to be worth around $7 billion.
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