The owner of Sugarcane Restaurant and Saba Rock, Mr. Petr Kellner died in a heli-skiing excursion on Saturday when their chopper crashed near a glacier in Alaska. He was the wealthiest person in the Czech Republic and had been on vacation at a remote luxury lodge located 40-minute flight from Anchorage.
The billionaire was pronounced dead on March 27th among 4 other people who was aboard the Airbus AS350 B3 helicopter when it went down near Knik Glacier, the lodge that chartered the aircraft said on Sunday.
The news comes as a blow to the British Virgin Islands, and in particular the Virgin Gorda Community where Mr. Kellner has been touted a “mastermind” and key contributor to the advancement of tourism on the island.
Mr. Doug Riegels, Business Parter & friend of Petr is deeply saddened by the loss.
“Petr accomplishments on a global level alone stand for themselves … but it was his friendship, loyalty, and honesty that made him that much more special. What he’s done for the BVI through his entire time here is unquantifiable, and the way he stepped in after Hurricane Irma to help all of Virgin Gorda rebound was a true testament to his character and love for this country.”
Chair of Virgin Gorda Recovery Operations Center (VGROC) and Virgin Gorda Community Activist, Sharon Flax-Brutus reflected on the many contributions.
“The news of his passing this morning sapped my positive energy but then I rebounded because he was a kind man and a true philanthropist and he loved our Virgin Gorda. What I liked about him was his propensity to engage and to get his hands dirty. After the storms he worked diligently with us at VGROC to help us put out lil VG back together. He put work crews in neighborhoods. He brought in generators and building supplies to put roofs back on. He came to our base to share what he could and to see how we could work together.”
“His greatest gift to me was a bag of ice and his sense of humanity. May his soul Rest In Peace and May his family be comforted in knowing that he gave a lot to the world and to us. May his staffers here on Virgin Gorda keep his memory alive and continue his legacy of ‘luxury hospitality,” Mrs. Flax-Brutus later added.
Kellner, an avid snowboarder and kite surfer, had a net worth of $15.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Born in 1964 in what was then Czechoslovakia, Kellner studied economics and worked as a salesman for an office-equipment distributor shortly after the Communist Party imploded in what became known as the Velvet Revolution in 1989.
284 Media extends deep sympathies to the family and friends of the deceased.
