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Industry mourns death of Laurent Lacassagne

Laurent Lacassagne, former chairman and CEO of Chivas Brothers, and co-founder of The Brixton Distillery, has died.

Laurent-Lacassagne
‘A true gentleman’: Laurent Lacassagne

Lacassagne died in December, just before Christmas, from pancreatic cancer, which he had lived with for 18 months.

Lacassagne enjoyed a lengthy career in the spirits industry. He joined Pernod Ricard in 1997 as CFO, a role he held for six years.

He then progressed to the position of chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard Winemakers in 2003 in Australia.

From there, he became president director general of Pernod Ricard Europe in 2008, before taking the helm at the company’s Scotch whisky arm, Chivas Brothers, as chairman and CEO in 2013. Lacassagne stepped down in June 2018.

His next venture was The Brixton Distillery, a microdistillery in Brixton, London, which he co-founded with Patrick Venning, who was a former marketing director for Chivas Brothers.

Following Lacassagne’s death, tributes have been flooding LinkedIn. A fundraiser has been set up in his name on Cancer Research UK, which at the time of writing had raised £3,300 (US$4,066) for the charity.

Peter Moore, formerly global brand director – prestige brands at Chivas Brothers, and now international marketing consultant at APM Consulting, commented on LinkedIn: “I worked for Laurent at Chivas Brothers and he was a great CEO and a really nice man. I remember well going to Budapest for a Ballantine’s conference when Laurent had just joined CBL [Chivas Brothers] and he was just brilliant at joining in with everything. We did some crazy things but he embraced it all and supported the team so well. So many memories of trips to Asia too. Great conversations and many nights singing karaoke! Rest in peace Laurent.”

Colin Kavanagh, chief marketing officer at Pernod Ricard North America, wrote: “Very sorry to learn of his passing, he was a true gentleman and always stayed down to earth.”

“Very sad news indeed,” wrote Julia Massies, managing director, Pernod Ricard UK. “Laurent was a kind gentleman, with a curious mind, very sharp intellect and delightful dry sense of humour. He was instrumental in shaping Pernod Ricard, in particular thanks to his work with Thierry Jacquillat and Patrick Ricard on the Seagram acquisition. My thoughts are with his family.”

The Cancer Research UK fundraiser in Lacassagne’s memory remains open for donations.

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