John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Models died on Saturday, in Rio de Janeiro after a long battle with cancer at the age of 70. Born in Manhattan in 1942, he attended boarding school in Switzerland and was married to Aline and had five children Cecile, Julian, John Jr., Fernando Augusto and Nina.
Casablancas started Elite Model Management in 1972 in Paris and first opened offices in New York in 1977. His vision changed the model management concept and shaped the careers of many models like Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Gisele Bündchen and Heidi Klum.
He resigned from the agency after BBC undercover documentary exposed Elite’s Europe executives bragging about their use of drugs and sexual relations with young models and moved to Miami and Rio de Janeiro. But in 2005 when Elite USA was purchased by Eddie Trump, he returned back to New York as a consultant in Elite.
