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Toscani disclosed last year that he was suffering from a rare
disease and did not know how long he had to live.
"It is with immense pain that we announce that our beloved
Oliviero has undertaken his next journey,'' his wife Kirsti and
their three children said in a statement Monday.
Toscani suffered from amyloidosis, a disease characterized by a
buildup of abnormal protein deposits in the body. He told
Corriere della Sera last August that he lost had 40 kilograms
(nearly 90 pounds) in a year, adding, "I don’t know how long I
have left to live, but I’m not interested in living like this
anyway.”
Toscani said he would like to be remembered “not for any one
photo but for my whole work, for the commitment.”
Toscani was the creative force behind shock ad campaigns of the
1990s that featured images such as the pope kissing an imam on
the lips, which angered the Vatican.
Others promoting the United Colors of Benetton depicted a priest
embracing a nun, a newborn baby with its umbilical cord, and a
black woman breastfeeding a white baby, part of the brand’s
advocacy for diversity, religious tolerance and environmental
messages.
His decadeslong relationship with Benetton was severed after
Toscani outraged relatives of victims in the deadly 2018 Genoa
bridge collapse, telling RAI television, "Who cares about a
bridge collapse?” He was responding to a public flap over a
photograph of founding members of a political protest movement
alongside key members of the Benetton family, which controlled
the company that maintained the bridge.
Toscani apologized in an interview with La Repubblica, saying:
“I am sorry. More: I am ashamed to apologize. I am humanly
destroyed and deeply pained." But the damage was done, and
Benetton completely cut ties with him.
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