Gaston Glock, Maker of the Signature Glock Handgun, Dies at 94

Austrian engineer Gaston Glock at an event in Velden, Carinthia, Austria, in this picture on Sept. 4, 2003. Gert Eggenberger/APA/AFP via Getty Images

Gaston Glock, the inventor of the signature handgun that bears his name, died on Dec. 27, the company confirmed.

Mr. Glock, an Austrian native, was 94. He is survived by his wife, Kathrin, a daughter, and two sons.

The company did not provide a cause of the founder and inventor’s death or elaborate on his passing.

However, the firm praised Mr. Glock for having “not only revolutionized the world of small arms in the 1980s” but for also succeeding in establishing the Glock brand as the “global leader in the handgun industry.”

“His internationally renowned Glock perfection stands for uncompromising quality and maximum customer satisfaction,” the company said.

“Gaston Glock charted the strategic direction of the Glock Group throughout his life and prepared it for the future. His life’s work will continue in his spirit,” it added.

Mr. Glock, an engineer born in Vienna, Austria in 1929, founded the Glock company in 1963 in Deutsch-Wagram.

However, it wasn’t until the 1980s when the Austrian military was looking for a new, innovative weapon, that his firm soared to success.

Up until then, the Glock company had predominantly produced military knives, components for fragmentation, and consumer goods including curtain rods but in response to the growing military need, Mr. Glock brought together a small team of firearms experts and created the revolutionary Glock 17, a lightweight semi-automatic gun largely made of black plastic.

The game-changing design, which included a frame made of a high-strength, nylon-based polymer and only the slide made of metal, went on to become one of the most popular firearms in the world and was accepted as the Austrian Army’s service pistol, in part due to its ability to fire at a moment’s notice in life-threatening situations.

Assassination Attempt

According to the company’s official website, the pistol is designed with three internal safeties–the trigger, firing pin, and drop safeties—which ensure it performs “consistently while providing the best protection against accidental discharge.”

More than 65 percent of federal, state, and local agencies in the United States now use the guns, which also found commercial success among private users and in mainstream culture; particularly among rappers.

The pistol has also featured heavily in multiple Hollywood films.

Thanks to its success, the Glock company has since expanded around the world, including a U.S. subsidiary founded in 1985 and a Slovakia subsidiary in 2014.

However, the company has also come under scrutiny by gun-control activists who have criticized Glock for making a powerful gun they say is easy to conceal and can hold more ammunition than other similar guns.

Despite the criticism, Mr. Glock rarely appeared in public and largely avoided public debate regarding gun regulation.

In 1999, Mr. Glock survived an attempted murder plot allegedly orchestrated by his business associate and financial advisor, Charles Ewert, who had reportedly hired a former wrestler to attack him with a rubber hammer.

The alleged assassination attempt came after Mr. Glock became suspicious of how the investment broker was managing his assets and flew to Luxembourg to confront him, court records show.

Mr. Glock suffered seven blows to the head but fended off the assault.

Mr. Ewert and the attacker he allegedly hired, Jacques Pecheur, were both imprisoned.

According to Forbes, Mr. Glock’s family had amassed about $1.1 billion in wealth, with sales of Glocks amounting to more than $500 million globally in 2017.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.