held a pilot's licence and enjoyed flying a Falcon 900 and a Piper Super Cub. He had his own hangar with a collection of old planes, including the last Douglas DC-6B to be produced, and which once belonged to Yugoslav Marshal Josip Broz Tito. Mateschitz and his Bundesliga club RB Leipzig faced backlash in 2017 over comments made in a Kleine Zeitung interview in which he suggested that Austria should close its borders to refugees and expressed support for Donald Trump and other populist positions. He went on to strongly criticize both the Government of Germany and the Government of Austria for their policies during the 2015 European migrant crisis. Mateschitz lived in Fuschl am See, Austria but also owned the island of Laucala in Fiji, which he bought from the Forbes family for £7 million. He spent millions on acquiring and conserving houses and castles in the Austrian Alps, saying "I want to enjoy these places myself, but I also want to take care of them". He died following a long period of fighting pancreatic cancer at his home in St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut on 22 October 2022, at age 78. See also The World's Billionaires References External links Forbes.com: The Soda With Buzz Times Online: Big man drives forward energy-packed brand – The media-shy mogul behind the Red Bull phenomenon Die-Wirtschaftsnews: The man beyond Red Bull (German) 1944 births 2022 deaths Austrian billionaires Austrian chief executives Austrian drink industry businesspeople Austrian football chairmen and investors Austrian mass media people Austrian motorsport people Austrian people of Croatian descent Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Austria Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Germany Chairmen and investors of soccer clubs in the United States Dietrich Mateschitz Formula One team owners Red Bull people Red Bull Racing Scuderia Toro Rosso Vienna University of Economics and Business alumni Deaths from pancreatic cancer