Marc Rich, a fugitive financier who made deals with shady international regimes and was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list before his controversial presidential pardon on Bill Clinton's final day in office in 2001, died Wednesday at a hospital in Lucerne, Switzerland. He was 78.
He had a stroke, his company, the Marc Rich Group, said in a statement.
Called the "King of Commodities," Rich dealt in almost anything that could be mined, harvested or drilled from the surface of the Earth, including oil, minerals, precious metals, timber and grain. At various times, he was reported to have virtual control over the international markets for aluminum, silver, tin and mercury.