Italian fashion company Missoni says co-founder Ottavio Missoni has died at 92.

Missoni founded the iconic fashion brand of zigzagged-patterned knitwear along with his wife, Rosita, in 1953. The Missonis are a family fashion dynasty, with the couple's children and their offspring involved in expanding the brand.

Sorrow struck the family earlier this year when the fashion patriarch's eldest child, company CEO Vittorio Missoni, 58, disappeared with his wife and four others while flying in a small plane during a vacation to a Venezuelan island.

Missoni SpA gave no cause of death for the patriarch, saying only that Ottavio "passed away serenely" in his home Thursday in the town of Sumirago.