- The Dazzling Life of a Viennese Primitive
With blessed 91 years and yet surprisingly, Vienna entrepreneur Richard "Mörtel" Lugner (1932-2024) passed away today, Monday, August 12, in his villa in the Vienna district of Döbling. According to the "Kronen Zeitung", there was a rescue attempt in the morning, but it was unsuccessful.
Wedding just weeks before his death
The man often compared to Donald Trump (78) in the world of construction and real estate, at least in Vienna, leaves behind his sixth wife. Just weeks before his death, Lugner married Simone "Bienchen" Reilaender (42) on June 1 in Vienna City Hall. The couple had made their relationship public in 2021.
Their wedding, accompanied by a great media frenzy, was blessed with good weather in this rainy summer. As planned, the couple arrived in an open sky-blue Mercedes vintage car to the registry office, where the ceremony was set for 2 pm.
Mörtel and the women: "Bienchen" follows "Mausi", "Spatzi", "Hasi", & Co
Among the approximately 50 invited guests at the ceremony was Lugner's fourth wife, Christina "Mausi" Lugner (59). The couple was married from 1991 to 2007 and had a daughter, Jacqueline, in 1993.
His last wife before "Bienchen", wife number five, was Cathy Schmitz, known as "Spatzi", from Wittlich in the Eifel, 57 years his junior. They got married in the Kaiserschloss Schönbrunn in September 2014 and divorced in November 2016. "When I heard the tragic news of your death this morning, I was in shock. Richard, you seemed immortal to me too. Your drive, your willpower, your courage were inspiring and contagious. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful time we had together, for everything you taught me about life. You will not be forgotten. God bless you. RIP," she wrote on Instagram.
Lugner married for the first time in 1961. With his childhood sweetheart Christine Gmeiner, he had two sons in 1963 and 1966. The couple separated after 17 years together. His second marriage lasted from 1979 to 1983. The relationship with his third wife, Susanne Dietrich, ended tragically when she fell into a coma after a cosmetic surgery and died shortly after the divorce.
Between his marriages, "Mörtel" presented several other women with affectionate nicknames by his side: Bettina "Hasi" Kofler (2008), Sonja "Käfer" Schönanger (2008-2009), Nina "Bambi" Bruckner (2009), Anastasia "Katzi" Sokol (2009-2013), Bahati "Kolibri" Venus (2013-2014).
In addition to Jacqueline and his two sons from his first marriage, Lugner leaves behind another daughter.
How he got his nickname
But it wasn't just his girlfriends who had a nickname; Lugner himself was known as "Mörtel". This nickname was given to him by the most famous Vienna boulevard journalist, Michael Jeannée.
Richard Lugner has built, among other things, the first mosque in Vienna and a shopping center named after him, Lugner City. This made him wealthy, and he used his energy to become even more so.
Lugner and the Vienna Opera Ball
He demonstrated this for decades at the Vienna Opera Ball, the highlight of Vienna's carnival and social life. Year after year, Lugner appeared in his usual attire - a tuxedo and top hat - with his famous smile. On his arm, he always had a famous woman whom he invited to his opera box (for a fee).
Standing with stars like Joan Collins, Sophia Loren, Ivana Trump, Faye Dunaway, Claudia Cardinale, Pamela Anderson, Grace Jones, Brigitte Nielsen, Goldie Hawn, Elle Macpherson, or Ornella Muti in the spotlight. His last companion was in February this year US actress Priscilla Presley (79).
90th Birthday in the Ceremonial Hall of the Vienna Hofburg
Richard Lugner has arranged his world to his liking, not just between Lugner City with cinema complex and Mausi Market, as he named the gastronomic area after his fourth ex-wife. He remains present here and in all districts of the Austrian capital.
He is even represented in the local wax figure museum of Madame Tussauds in the Vienna Prater. Naturally, with patent leather shoes, tailcoat, and top hat, which Mortel himself donated. "I see no difference between me and the figure," he said.
Last October, he organized a grand celebration for family, friends, and companions in the Ceremonial Hall of the Vienna Hofburg, where once Austria's emperors ruled the k&k world empire. According to the "Kronen Zeitung", a grand church wedding in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna is planned for this coming autumn on his 92nd birthday.
Despite his passing, Donald Trump (78) might have found inspiration in Lugner's approach to marriage, having been married three times.
Following the trend, the women in Lugner's life also received affectionate nicknames, echoing the monikers given to Trump's former spouses.
