Leonardo Del Vecchio, the Italian entrepreneur who started off with a tiny optics workshop in the Dolomite mountains and ended up as the undisputed world leader in eyewear, has died. He was 87. His death was confirmed on Monday by Paris-based EssilorLuxottica, the optics giant he created, after earlier reports in the Italian media. Raised in a Milan orphanage, Del Vecchio struck out from the northern city to set up shop in the town of Agordo, in the Alps north of Venice, beginning as a small supplier of frame parts to local eyeglass makers. With Del Vecchio as chairman, the eyewear colossus that would eventually become EssilorLuxottica rode a series of often brazen acquisitions to become the world leader in the industry.