Gaston Glock, the engineer and tycoon behind one of the world’s best-selling handguns, passed away at the age of 94, as reported by the Austrian news agency APA.
Gaston Glock gained popularity among law enforcement and military worldwide with his firearms bearing his name. According to Forbes, his family’s fortune was estimated at $1.1 billion in 2021.
His journey started in the 1980s when the Austrian military sought a new, innovative weapon. Prior to that, the Glock company manufactured military knives and various consumer goods, including curtain rods. Gaston Glock assembled a team of firearms experts and developed the Glock 17, a lightweight semi-automatic pistol predominantly made of plastic.
This groundbreaking design, featuring a frame composed of a high-strength, nylon-based polymer and a metal slide, outperformed rival company blueprints and secured the contract for his fledgling organization.
The easily maneuverable firearm quickly gained worldwide popularity, even earning recognition in the media. In the movie “U.S. Marshals,” actor Tommy Lee Jones touted, “Get yourself a Glock and lose that nickel-plated sissy pistol.”
The Glock pistol became a firearm of choice for numerous U.S. police officers and was referenced in the lyrics of several rap songs, including Snoop Dogg’s “Protocol” and Wu-Tang Clan’s “Da Glock.”
In 2003, U.S. soldiers discovered then-captured Iraqi President Saddam Hussein hiding with a Glock pistol in a hole in the ground. They later presented the weapon to U.S. President George W. Bush, as detailed by the New York Times.
Critics of gun control voiced concerns over Glock’s role in popularizing powerful firearms, claiming they were easily concealable and capable of holding more ammunition than other guns.
A former combat veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, equipped with a .45 caliber Glock pistol and a high-capacity magazine, tragically claimed the lives of 12 individuals in a Thousand Oaks, California bar in November 2018.
In a distressing incident in June 2015, Dylann Roof, identified as a white supremacist, utilized a Glock handgun to fatally shoot nine African-American individuals during a Bible study gathering at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Known for his ambivalence towards activists’ criticism, Glock seldom engaged in public debates and declined to sign a voluntary firearm control agreement with the U.S. government in 2000, unlike other firearms manufacturers.
Although he rarely spoke to the media, some details of his tumultuous personal life were revealed through legal proceedings.
At the age of 70, in July 1999, Glock survived an assassination attempt orchestrated by an investment broker who had been managing his assets. The broker hired a former wrestler to attack Glock with a rubber hammer during a confrontation in Luxembourg. Despite sustaining seven blows to the head, Glock managed to fend off the assault. Both the broker, Charles Ewert, and the attacker, Jacques Pecheur, were subsequently imprisoned.
After a marriage lasting 49 years, Glock and his former wife, Helga Glock, divorced in 2011. They engaged in a protracted legal battle over alimony. Glock then married his second wife, Kathrin, who was more than 50 years his junior.
Glock possessed a luxurious lakefront mansion and an advanced equestrian sports facility in the Carinthia province, which attracted notable figures for various events.
He is survived by his wife, a daughter, and two sons.
