Özdemir Sabancı was a Turkish

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

 businessman and a second generation member of the Sabancı family

Sabanci family

The Sabancı family is a dynasty of Turkish businesspeople founded by Hacı Ömer Sabancı, a self-made wealthy trader. Some second and third generation members of the family control today Turkey’s largest and prestigious group of companies, established mostly by the efforts of his son Sakıp Sabancı...

.

Biography

He was born in Adana

Adana

Adana is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, in south-central Anatolia...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. After finishing the high school at the Tarsus American College

Tarsus American College

-Overview:Tarsus American College or Tarsus American School is a private coeducational high school located in Tarsus, province Mersin, Turkey.It is known for the success of its alumni throughout the world...

 in Tarsus

Tarsus (city)

Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...

, province Mersin

Mersin Province

The Mersin Province is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital is the city of Mersin and the other major town is Tarsus, birthplace of St Paul...

, he received his B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...

 from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology

UMIST

The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research...

 (UMIST), UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Later, he obtained a master's degree

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in the same discipline in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Returned to Turkey, he worked in the Sabancı Holding

Sabanci Holding

Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş., abbreviated as Sabancı Holding, is the largest industrial and financial conglomerate in Turkey by profit. The holding is owned at about 75% by the Sabancı family, one of Turkey's wealthiest. 3% is owned by the Sabancı University and the Sabancı Foundation. The...

 and soon founded and further developed the synthetic fibres producer Sasa, one of the biggest industrial companies of the group. Under his leadership, Sabancı Holding entered into the automative sector. He established several joint-venture projects with major Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese companies including production of Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi

The Mitsubishi Group , Mitsubishi Group of Companies, or Mitsubishi Companies is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company that consists of a range of autonomous businesses which share the Mitsubishi brand, trademark and legacy...

 coach

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

es and truck

Truck

A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...

s, Komatsu construction equipment, loader

Loader (equipment)

A loader is a heavy equipment machine often used in construction, primarily used to load material into or onto another type of machinery .-Heavy equipment front loaders:A loader A loader is a heavy equipment machine often used in construction, primarily used to load material (such as asphalt,...

s and forklifts. In 1990, he paved the way to produce Toyota cars in Turkey as a consequence of the largest Turkish-Japanese partnership.

In the board of directors of the holding, he was responsible for the Group of Synthetic Fibers, Automotive and Plastics.

Özdemir Sabancı was gunned down on January 9, 1996 in his office in the strongly-guarded Sabancı Towers in Levent

Levent

Levent is a neighbourhood and one of the main business districts of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European side of the city. It is a part of the municipality of Beşiktaş which is situated to the north of the Golden Horn, at the western shore of the Bosporus strait.Levent is in direct...

, İstanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 along with the general manager of ToyotaSA and a secretary by assassins hired by the leftist armed group DHKP-C. They had been given access to the building by Fehriye Erdal

Fehriye Erdal

Fehriye Erdal is a female political activist of Kurdish origin from Turkey. She was one of the three DHKP-C members allegedly involved in the assassination of a Turkish businessman, Özdemir Sabancı and two of his employees on January 9, 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey. In 2008 however, she was acquitted...

, a female member of DHKP-C, who was an employee at that time. Recently released information has suggested that the assassination of Özdemir Sabancı's assassin Mustafa Duyar was planned by retired general Veli Küçük, who was detained in the Ergenekon investigation

Ergenekon network

Ergenekon is the name given to an alleged clandestine, Kemalist ultra-nationalist organization in Turkey with possible ties to members of the country's military and security forces...

.

Özdemir Sabancı was laid to rest at the Adana Asri Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Sevda, his son Demir

Demir Sabanci

Demir Sabancı , a member of the Sabancı family in third generation, is a Turkish businessman and entrepreneur.He was born in year 1971 as the son of Özdemir Sabancı, who was murdered by a terrorist attack in 1996 in the building of headquarters of Sabancı Holding in İstanbul, Turkey...

 and his daughter Serra (1975).