GENEVA -- German-born photographer Gunter Sachs, best known for his playboy lifestyle and brief marriage to French actress Brigitte Bardot, has committed suicide. He was 78. 
 
 In a statement released Sunday by his family at his request, Sachs said he chose to end his life after concluding that he was suffering from an incurable degenerative disease affecting his memory and ability to communicate. 
 
 "I have always stood up to big challenges," the statement said. It provided no details on the timing or circumstances of his death, but German weekly Focus reported that Sachs shot himself Saturday at his home in the exclusive Swiss Alpine resort of Gstaad. 
 
 Sachs was born into a wealthy industrialist family in 1932, and used his inheritance and business acumen to fund a glamorous lifestyle that fascinated many in post-war Germany of the 1960s and 70s. 
 
 German tabloids reported extensively on his affairs with celebrities and friendships with artists such as Andy Warhol. 
 
 Sachs also made a name for himself as a photographer, documentary filmmaker and art collector. Swiss business magazine Bilanz estimated his fortune at 300-400 million Swiss francs ($340-$455 million). 
 
 Sachs is survived by Bardot, to whom he was married from 1966-1969, his third wife Mirja Larsson and their sons Christian and Alexander, and son Rolf from his first marriage. 
 
 A funeral will take place in the presence of his close family. ||||| Image caption Sachs had hundreds of roses dropped by helicopter on Brigitte Bardot's home, hours after meeting her 
 
 Gunter Sachs - the German-born billionaire, art collector and former husband of Brigitte Bardot - has killed himself at the age of 78. 
 
 Sachs's family said he shot himself at his chalet in the Swiss resort of Gstaad on Saturday. 
 
 A grandson of car manufacturer Adam Opel, Sachs's wealth helped him to become him a prominent member of the glamorous 1960s "jet set". 
 
 Sachs was married three times and had three children. 
 
 Gunter Sachs always knew how to enjoy life Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Swiss newspaper 
 
 He also had a relationship with Iranian queen Soraya Esfandiary in the early 1960s. 
 
 Born in southern Germany, Sachs trained in maths and economics before becoming a Swiss citizen in 1976. 
 
 A noted photographer who won several awards for his documentary films, he was also an avid art collector with a keen interest in astrology. 
 
 Sachs and Bardot married in Las Vegas in 1966, a few weeks after they first met. The marriage lasted just over three years. 
 
 Image caption German tabloids reported extensively on Sachs's affairs and friendships 
 
 Hours after meeting her, Sachs arranged for a helicopter to fly over her house in southern France and drop hundreds of red roses. 
 
 "It's not every day that a man drops a tonne of roses in your yard," the actress later wrote. 
 
 A spokesman for Bardot's animal rights charity said on Sunday she was "devastated" by her ex-husband's death. 
 
 Sachs's first wife, Anne-Marie Faure, died in 1958, the same year his father, Willy Sachs, killed himself. 
 
 After his divorce with Bardot, Sachs married former Swedish model Mirja Larsson in 1969. 
 
 "Gunter Sachs always knew how to enjoy life," wrote the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung. 
 
 "Those who knew him may very well believe that he wanted to end it quickly to cut short the suffering of old age."
– Gunter Sachs, the German-born billionaire married to Brigitte Bardot for three years in the 1960s, has killed himself at age 78. Sachs, an art collector and photographer who was also involved with Iranian queen Soraya Esfandiary, shot himself at his Swiss resort chalet Saturday, his family says. Sachs married Bardot in Las Vegas weeks after meeting her. Just hours after meeting her, he had a helicopter fly over her home and drop hundreds of roses, the BBC notes. Bardot's spokesperson says she is "devastated" by his death. Click to read more about the playboy.