His legacy volition be the Gummy Bear -- and the smiles of kids the world over.

Hans Riegel, the human being behind Gummy Bears -- the chewy sweets honey of children (and adults) -- has died at the age of xc from centre failure, his office said on Tuesday.

Riegel spent almost 70 years at the captain of Haribo, a candy and confectionary company in Bonn, Frg, which was founded by his begetter in 1920. From a small firm struggling with the shortages of post-war Deutschland, he built information technology into a world famous brand exporting to 100 countries.

High german Foreign Government minister Guido Westerwelle said Riegel had made Haribo such a global make that "wherever I traveled in recent years, the glutinous bears had arrived long before me."

Haribo, short for Hans Riegel Bonn, came to epitomize Germany's highly successful Mittelstand - the small, actively-managed firms which made up the backbone of the "economic miracle" that brought the country from the brink of destruction later World State of war Two to get i of the world's leading industrial forces.

Picture taken on October 22, 2009 shows Hans Riegel, chairman of German confectionery company Haribo, standing in front of his plant in Bonn, western ...
Picture taken on October 22, 2009 shows Hans Riegel, chairman of German confectionery company Haribo, standing in front of his plant in Bonn, Germany. ROLF VENNENBERND / Today

Fruit-flavored gummy bears were originally called dancing bears, inspired past the performing brownish bears that once appeared at circuses and fetes. The trigger-happy expression on their faces was replaced with a smile in a 2007 makeover.

The Bonn-based processed maker employed 6,000 people in 15 sites worldwide. According to Forbes, Riegel had a net worth of $2.9 billion, putting him at No.32 on Federal republic of germany'southward richest listing.

"I work because information technology makes me happy, and I have no reason to deny myself that happiness," Riegel said in a interview in 2010.

He underwent a successful performance earlier this year to remove a brain tumor.

Haribo gave Germany its most famous ad slogan, promising to make kids happy -- and grownups, too.

Packets of the sweets -- in all kinds of animal forms now -- are ubiquitous: doctors keep them on mitt to placate crying children and hotels place them on pillows as invitee treas.

"Thank yous Hans Riegel, for making our lives sweeter!" fan Kilian Muth posted on the Haribo Germany facebook folio.