Hamburg Sud owner Rudolf August Oetker died in a Hamburg clinic on Tuesday morning at the age of 90, reports TradeWinds.

Known in Germany as the "pudding king" for his Dr Oetker line of baking products and pizzas, he was born on 20 September 1916 and was one of the country's foremost post-war businessmen.

The exact cause of death was as yet unknown, German media reported
Boxship company Hamburg Sud's sister tramp shipping operation Rudolf August Oetker (RAO) is named after him.

Oetker's chemist grandfather invented ready-to-use baking powder and founded the group in 1891. Following the death of Rudolf August's father, Rudolf Oetker, in the Verdun killing fields in 1916, the family business was run by his mother Ida and her second husband, Richard Kaselowsky.

After graduating from high school, the young Rudolf August opted to do an apprenticeship in banking, but that only lasted until 1936 when he was conscripted.

Kaselowsky, who took over in 1918, chartered the growing business into new territory by developing baking ingredients like vanilla sugar or introducing powdered pudding mix onto the market.

Then in 1944, following the death of his mother, step father and two half-sisters, it was Rudolf August who took over at the helm.

Oetker himself helped turn the company into a leading consumer products group that sells all sorts of baking products as well as frozen pizza, beer and champagne.

His son August took over in 1984 and still runs the $7.9bn group.

With his family, Oetker also owned five five-star hotels, a grocery chain, a publishing company and insurance groups.

Oetker married third wife, Marianne, in 1963. He had a total of eight children.

In 1976, one of his sons, Richard Oetker was the victim of a spectacular kidnapping from which he was not released until a huge ransom the equivalent of EUR 10.5m ($13.61m) was paid.

Oetker was a renowned art collector who had several homes around the world. He was known to enjoy riding and smoking his pipe.