Entrepreneur Willy Naessens died at the age of 86

« Willy Naessens fell at the end of January and broke his hip. During the recovery process, however, a number of complications occurred that have weakened him very much, which ultimately led to his death, » the family and the management report in a press release. On March 21, it was announced that Willy Naessens was admitted to the hospital. Then his condition was described as « serious but stable ».

Naessens was born in 1939 and said he started doing business at the age of 14, first as a chicken grower, later as a stable builder and eventually as a concrete farmer. With Willy Naessens Group, he built a portfolio of companies that specialize in industrial construction and the construction of swimming pools. He still plunged himself into the feeding market more recently. But he really became a national monument when he and wife Marie-Jeanne Huysman appeared in the reality program The Sky is the Limitin 2014 on Play4.

The businessman from Elsegem, in Wortegem-Petegem in East Flanders, struggled with health problems in his lives. In the 90s he was repeated several times by lymph node cancer and an early stage of throat cancer. He should eventually overcome the disease four times, but always recovered.

« His dedication and determination, but his folk character also made him an iconic figure who left his mark on the entrepreneurial landscape in Belgium, » says the family and Willy Naessens Group’s press release.