Rome ? Giovanni Agnelli, the stylish business baron whose rule over the Fiat empire made him the symbol of his nation’s postwar climb to prosperity, died Friday. He was 81.

Agnelli, better known by his nickname “Gianni,” used charisma, grit and more than a little assistance from the Italian government to expand a Turin automaker into a conglomerate with interests from steel to chemicals to newspapers.

But it was cars that formed the base of Fiat, and it was cars that have recently been its greatest weakness.

Fiat, founded in 1899 by Agnelli’s grandfather, saw its auto unit lose more than $1 billion last year, while the company’s share price has lost about 80 percent of its value since 1998.

Moreover, Agnelli’s death — he had been ill with prostate cancer — came on the day the family had a key meeting of its holding company. The meeting, which observers said could determine whether the Agnellis continue their involvement in automobiles and at what level, went on as scheduled, though the family gave no details.

General Motors Corp. owns 20 percent of Fiat Auto, and the Italian company has an option to force GM to buy the remaining 80 percent starting in 2004. Some investors viewed Agnelli as an impediment to a sale.

Giovanni’s younger brother Umberto — believed to be more willing to relinquish the automaker — was expected to take over as chairman of the family’s holding company.

Italy was more taken Friday with remembering Agnelli’s heyday, recalling a man who hobnobbed with world leaders and whose company provided thousands of jobs to an entire generation.

“For more than half a century, he was one of the leaders of our country’s history,” President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said. Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s richest businessman, called Agnelli a “champion of Italian enterprise.” Pope John Paul II said he acted “with generous initiative for the country’s good and its social and economic development.”

While Italy worked to remake itself after defeat and disaster in World War II, the ruggedly handsome businessman was its monied icon. He owned palaces and retreats in the Alps and the Italian Riviera, and mixed with aristocracy and world figures such as former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Skiing, soccer and Ferrari — which is owned by Fiat — were Agnelli’s three passions. Yet his life also was marked by personal tragedy. When he was 14, his father was killed in a plane crash. Ten years later, his mother died in an auto accident. Later, his son and nephew would both die young.