Peter Ludwig; Chocolate Factory Owner, Art Collector

Peter Ludwig, 71, German chocolate factory owner and philanthropist who became an eclectic art collector. Born into an industrialist family in Koblenz, Ludwig studied law and art and wrote a doctoral dissertation on Pablo Picasso. He began working for Monheim Schokoladenfabrik in Aachen during the 1950s, and rose quickly in the small company. As chairman, he built the chocolate manufacturing concern into a major business. His voracious art collecting ranged from pop art to South American gold trinkets to medieval German manuscripts. Ludwig’s sale of manuscripts to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in 1983 was controversial because critics accused him of selling out German art. German authorities suspected him of evading taxes on the deal, but the case was dropped after Ludwig agreed to pay a fine. Thousands of works that he collected over half a century were displayed by about 30 museums worldwide. He donated more than 300 works of pop art to the city of Cologne alone. On Monday in Aachen, Germany, of a ruptured colon.