German Billionaire and Retail Co-Founder, Otto Beisheim, Committs Suicide Following Diagnosis of Incurable Disease

The German billionaire and co-founder of Metro, Otto Beisheim, committed suicide. He was 89.

The news came after Beisheim discovered he had an incurable disease. According to his company, his body was discovered Monday morning in his home by the Tegernsee Lake in Bavaria, Reuters reported.

Metro Cash & Carry is a German retail and wholesale corporation that was founded in 1964. It's now recognized as fourth-largest following Wal-Mart, among others. 

"With his self-service cash-and-carry concept, he revolutionized the sector in the mid 1960s," said Metro Chief Executive Olaf Koch in a statement to reporters. The "cash and carry" concept helped hotels and restaurant businesses buy goods in bulk, Reuters reported.

Metro group also runs Kaufhof department stores, supermarkets, consumer electronic stores and cash and carry businesses in Moldova and Japan. In 2012, the group pulled in $89 billion, where nearly half the revenue came from the cash and carry outlets, according to Reuters.

Beisheim had a 10 percent stake in Metro, making him the third-biggest shareholder the group. Alongside the Haniel and Schmidt-Ruthenbeck clan that co-founded the company, the shares add up to more than 45 percent of the company's total. According to Forbes, Beisheim was estimated to be worth $3.3 billion in March 2012, which made him 22^nd richest person in Germany.

The billionaire funded the Otto Beisheim School of Management and the Beisheim Center on Potsdamer Platz, which carries high-style apartments, shops, as well as offices for prominent companies located in Berlin. The American-inspired architecture is situated alongside the the plaza's two five-star hotels: Ritz-Carlong and Marriott of Berlin.

Beisheim was a widow with no children, so his assets are going to be divided amongst two foundations for the development of several projects. His reputation was marred when it was reported that he served in the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, also known as Hitler's personal military bodyguards.