Thierry Cabanne, the 62-year-old founder and chairman of Thierry's Wine Services, one of the U.K.'s leading wine importers and wine brokers, was killed in a car crash early on Sept. 13, 2007. He was returning home after the International Wine Challenge Awards. Cabanne moved to the U.K. from his native France in the 1960s and first set up a restaurant (Thierry's) on the fashionable Kings Road, then the center of Swinging London. He set up Thierry's Wine Services in 1981, concentrating on importing French wine. Thierry's is the largest importer of French wines into the U.K. with a volume of 4 million cases and 25 percent of the market for French wines. In 1991, Cabanne decided to broaden the company's activities and import wines from around the world. The company now sells around 800 different wines in the U.K. with a turnover of around £80 million ($159.7 million).

Region: UK