Ferdinand Porsche, scion of the...

...famous German automaker family, died at age 76. 

It was Porsche's father and grandfather (pointing, in the picture above) who created the prototype of the Volkswagen at the behest of Adolf Hitler. From the Times obit: 

As an engineer working for the Daimler-Benz racing team, Mr. Porsche’s grandfather, Ferdinand, had met Hitler, a racing fan then early in his ascent to power, in the mid-1920s. Mr. Porsche started his own company in the 1930s, and responded quickly when Hitler, as chancellor, directed him to create a car that ordinary Germans could afford. 

Ferdinand Porsche and his son, Ferry, created the first prototype for the so-called “people’s car” — the Volkswagen. Hitler approved the design and a factory was built, but the war intervened and production of the Volkswagen was postponed...