Investment
banker Michael Treichl took his life on Friday two months after his
Parnham House mansion in Dorset was gutted by fire.
The 500-year-old property was one of the oldest mansions in the county and historically important in the UK.
Treichl left Vienna in 2001 to make it his home and the UK the centre of his business operations.
He
was arrested after the blaze but released without being charged.
Treichl, 69, leaves his children, Max, 17, and Charlotte, 15, and
stepchildren Carlo, 21, and Sofia, 26.
Speculation
was mounting in financial circles that his hedge fund business was in
trouble and he was afraid of losing the fabulous lifestyle he enjoyed.
A family spokesman said: 'Michael Treichl sadly passed away on Friday, June 16, having suffered from severe depression.
'Michael enjoyed a long and distinguished career in finance.
'He was a devoted family man and husband to his wife Emma, their two children, and his two step-children.'
Mr Treichl bought Parnham House from revered furniture designer John Makepeace, who still lives in the area.
Mr Makepeace today spoke of his sadness at news of Mr Treichl's death.
He said: 'I am aware of the news and it is very sad. The fire was a tragedy, the house was irreplaceable.'
Friends also spoke of their shock at Mr Treichl's death.
Parnham House, in Dorset, was
gutted by a blaze back in April. Mr Treichl was arrested and questioned
on the day of the fire, but later released without charge.
Mr
Treichl (right) leaves behind wife Emma (left), who he met while
commissioning an artist to pain his portrait, along with their two
children
Chris Turner, the chairman of Beaminster Town Council, added: 'I'm shocked and stunned, I really am.
'This
horrific news leaves so many question marks but it would be wrong to
speculate now. Who really knows what was going through his head?
'I feel for him and his wife, who have obviously been under tremendous pressure as a result of the fire.
'It
comes as such a surprise as I thought that Mr Treichl was intend on
rebuilding the house. I think he had lots of houses but Parnham House
was always his favourite.'
Michael Lomax used to work as Mr Treichl's chauffeur and now runs a guesthouse in Beaminster.
He said: 'I'm absolutely flabbergasted, I can't believe it.
'His death and the fire must surely be connected, but quite how it's impossible to say.
'I knew him personally through my chauffeur company, which he used to use a lot. I got to know him quite well.
'On first impressions he was a very abrupt man but in the end he was one of the nicest people I ever knew.
'He was a man that had everything - lots of money and a great family. But who knows what's really going on?'
More than 100 firefighters were
called to the Grade I listed property after the fire broke out, but were
unable to save anything except the exterior walls.
Mr Treichl bought the property
in 2001 to house a collection of armour and hunting trophies, and
British portraits he had acquired - all of which were destroyed
The home was unoccupied at the time of the blaze which started at around 4am.
The
fire which ripped through it which was so huge 100 firefighters were on
the scene trying to extinguish it and embers burnt for three days
afterwards.
Mr Treichl was in London at the time while wife Emma was in Provence with their teenage children Max and Charlotte.
Speaking
in the aftermath of the blaze, Mr Treichl, who made millions working
for Audley Capital Advisors LLP, said: 'I am devastated at the loss of
our home.
'The restoration of Parnham
has been my life's work and it is insane to think I could have destroyed
it. I am now intent on rebuilding and restoring it.'
Emma Treichl said that the day after the devastating fire her husband rushed up from London to be at the scene.
She said at the time: 'Michael was at Parnham the following day, looking at the burning wreckage.
'He was gutted, very emotional. He could barely speak. I don't recall his exact words - he was sobbing.'
She previously said the family were planning to work with English Heritage to restore the house, which was gutted in the blaze.
Mrs Treichl said: 'We're going to rebuild, absolutely. I've never once doubted that. We can't not do it.
'I have to keep thinking about the future; how we're going to live our lives, how we're going to move forward.
'The whole complication of rebuilding and dealing with English Heritage will be much greater than the insurance claim itself.
'The cost of replacing something which is irreplaceable is unimaginable, it's huge.
'We're working with English Heritage to find a way forward, but it's a very long process.'
Germany's
business bible, the Manager Magazine, devoted space to a special report
on the Treichl clan nine years ago under the headline: 'The Fabulous
World of the Treichls'.
Pernham House was where American
commanders drew up plans for the Allied invasion of mainland Europe
during the Second World War, and President Eisenhower once dined here.
The Treichl family, one of the
most distinguished and powerful banking families in Austria, are thought
to have acquired the property for £4million
Mr Treichl and his wife are
thought to have spent almost £10million transforming the property from a
former nursing home into a luxurious country pile
Beneath
it read: 'They have influence, style and tradition – rarely has a
family influenced the Austrian elite for generations as the bankers
Treichl [have done].'
It described Michael as 'a cool investor in London's financial centre, a global player of our time.'
The
publication said he was 'a rather unremarkable man at first glance,
slim, quiet, restrained, with surprisingly expressive eyes.
'He
has already outlasted his sports program, now he's doing aerobics,
weight lifting, because he wants to stay fit for his breakneck heli-ski
tours, for tennis, horseback riding in Canada, and of course: for
hunting.
'We hunt for generations,' he
says. 'Our father shot probably hundreds of Chamois goats in his life.'
And him? 'In England, anything that flies, in Scotland deer.'
He
admitted there was 'competition' between him and his brother Andreas, a
prominent banker who still lives in Austria, but said since he left to
go to England this was no longer a factor in his life.
He said: 'Andreas wants to have influence in society, shaping it, leaving a mark. This is less important to me.
'You
need to illuminate his artistic side, he's got that from our mother. He
writes poems to this day. For me it was enough just to go hunting.'
The magazine said that the 4.4million euros that Andreas earned was regarded by Michael's London banking circle as peanuts.
The house was fitted out with
luxury furnishings to make the perfect country home - though fortunately
nobody was there on the night of the fire
In
the aftermath of the fire, which entirely destroyed the house's bespoke
interior (left) and right), Emma had vowed that the couple would rebuild
It
said: 'Michael has earned good money, also as a specialist in hostile
takeovers.' It described him as the 'global player personified.'
It described Parnham House as 'a picture-book world in which the hunting dogs roam and children laugh and make noise.
'The
lady of the house, very nice, very athletic, comes to tea by the
fireplace. She has refreshed herself in the steam bath: hunting in the
morning was hard work.
'Soldiers of the 16th infantry regiment of the U.S. Army drew up plans for D-day in the hall. Eisenhower once dined here.
'On
the walls hang old masters of the 18th and 19th century, paintings
inherited and accumulated. Upholstery, rustic fabrics, there is, what
the Englishman Sir Rocco Rocco Forte calls casual luxury, and what he
never achieved in his hotels.'
Michael
was, as the father says, 'not very ambitious' as a student but after
Harvard Business School knuckled down to investment banking.
A
polar bear rug adorned the fireplace at the hall. 'In one of the rooms,
you stumble over the head of a lioness. All Treichl victims,' said the
magazine. 'He belongs to the aristocratic life.'
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