Theo Albrecht save money." Theodor Albrecht died 24 July 2010, in his home town of Essen, Germany. Theo Albrecht Theodor Paul "Theo" Albrecht (; 28 March 1922 – 24 July 2010) was a German entrepreneur, who in 2010 was ranked by Forbes as the 31st richest person in the world, with a net worth of $16.7 billion. He owned and was the CEO of the Aldi Nord discount supermarket chain. In the US he owned the Trader Joe's specialty grocery store chain. His brother Karl Albrecht owned the Aldi Süd discount supermarket chain. The two chains originally were a single family enterprise
Theo Albrecht success stories. Theodor retired from daily operations in 1993 and remained as chairman of the board. In 1971, Albrecht was kidnapped for 17 days. A ransom of seven million German marks (approximately US$2 million at the time) was paid for his release. He was held at gunpoint by Heinz-Joachim Ollenburg, a lawyer, and his accomplice Paul Kron. The ransom sum was delivered by the Bishop of Essen. His kidnappers were eventually caught by authorities, but only half of the money was recovered. Albrecht later successfully claimed the ransom as a tax deductible business expense in court. During World War II,