Chinese Beverage Tycoon Zong Qinghou Dies at 79

Zong Qinghou, founder and chairman of beverage giant Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. Ltd., and once China’s richest man, died on Sunday due to illness. He was 79.

Zong died at 10:30 a.m. after “ineffective treatment for his illness,” the company said in a statement, which did not specify what Zong was suffering from or where he was treated. A memorial service will be held Wednesday in Wahaha’s Xiasha base in Hangzhou, capital of East China’s Zhejiang province, the statement said.