The CEO and president of Swedish vegetable oil refiners AAK Arne Frank has sadly lost his fight with cancer.

Colleague and chairman Mikael Ekdahl says in a statement how Frank will be “deeply missed” both professionally and personally.

“It was with great grief we received this sad notification yesterday,” he says. “Arne's hope for a positive outcome of his ongoing cancer treatment has unfortunately not been realized.”

Arne Frank joined AAK as CEO and President in 2010. With very great success he has developed AAK into a world-leading player in the market for value-adding vegetable oils and fats.

“Arne will be deeply missed within AAK, both on a personal and professional level. He has created a very strong organization with many highly skilled and qualified managers. Hence, the starting position is positive when the Board of Directors now is forced to start the search for a new CEO and President. Fredrik Nilsson will continue as acting CEO and President during this process,” concludes Ekdahl.