Obituary: Martha Lucille Heineken-Cummins, 95, formerly of New Hope

Martha Lucille Heineken-Cummins, 95, of Noordwijk, Netherlands, formerly of New Hope, died Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020 at Noordwijk. She was the widow of beer magnate Freddy Heineken

She was born Oct. 29, 1925 in New Hope, and she was the daughter of a Kentucky bourbon manufacturer and was a fashion model. She met her future husband in 1947 in the U.S. when he was a beer deliveryman. He later became sales manager for Heineken in the U.S. where — at the time — little beer was being exported from the Netherlands to the U.S.

The two were married in 1948, just before Heineken returned to his native country. “We celebrated our honeymoon on the boat to the Netherlands,” Heineken said of their marriage.

She kept a low profile until her husband and his driver were kidnapped in 1983 by a group of criminals in an attempt to collect ransom. Heineken and his driver were held in a shed in the Western Docklands in Amsterdam for 20 days until they were eventually liberated by the police.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Freddy Heineken, who died in 2002 at the age of 78.

She is survived by one daughter, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, who has controlling interest in the Heineken group. She is also one of the richest women in the world, with assets of approximately $14.7 billion.

The funeral will be private in her hometown of Noordwijk, Netherlands

-30-