Food Magnate Is Mystery Ring Buyer

The new owner of the 40-carat diamond engagement ring that once belonged to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is . . . the wife of a catsup king.

Albert Lippert, chairman emeritus of H. J. Heinz Co.’s Weight Watchers subsidiary, said Thursday that the mystery caller he relayed the winning $2.59-million bid for the night before was none other than Heinz Chairman and CEO Anthony J. F. O’Reilly, who was out of the country.

O’Reilly wanted it for his wife, Chryss Goulandris O’Reilly, Lippert told the Associated Press. A great deal of sentiment was behind the sky-high price for the engagement ring from Aristotle Onassis, Lippert explained.

The Goulandris and Onassis families were both “friendly rivals” in the shipping business in Greece, and the Kennedy and O’Reilly families also were close, he said.