On 11 September 2026, we lost Sevgi Can, a much-loved elder of the CAN Sigorta family and a shareholder in the company.
In her passing, we said farewell not only to a wife, mother and matriarch, but to a remarkable woman who brought together different generations, different views and the many people connected by a long shared history.
A Life Together That Began in 1960
Sevgi Can and Mehmet Can, the founder of CAN Sigorta, became engaged in 1960.
This was just two years after CAN Sigorta began its journey in 1958. Her own story with the company therefore spanned almost its entire history.
She witnessed its earliest years, its development into an established business, the difficult periods it endured and the arrival of new generations to take on responsibility. She knew the challenges faced along the way, the people whose efforts shaped the company and the circumstances in which it continued to move forward.
Sevgi Can was far more than a shareholder. She carried more than six decades of CAN Sigorta’s collective memory, including the personal stories that never found their way into official records.
In that sense, her life was woven into the history of CAN Sigorta almost from the very beginning.
Mehmet Can’s Life Partner
Alongside Mehmet Can, Sevgi Can lived through every chapter of CAN Sigorta’s development. The story of a company that began in Nicosia and gradually extended across North Cyprus was also the story of a long life they shared together.
While Mehmet Can carried the responsibilities of the business, Sevgi Can maintained a sense of balance and togetherness within the family. She formed a quiet but enduring bridge between the demands of working life and the needs of home.
The company grew, ways of working changed and new generations took on responsibility. Throughout it all, Sevgi Can remained a calm and reassuring presence, bringing people together through a shared sense of family.
A Quiet, Unifying Strength
One of Sevgi Can’s most distinctive qualities was her ability to bring people closer.
Whenever differences arose within the family, her calm manner helped restore balance. She would prevent disagreements from becoming lasting divisions by reminding everyone of the bond they shared. She did so not by placing herself at the centre or raising her voice, but by listening, understanding and offering a few carefully chosen words at the right moment.
She valued each member of the family as an individual and gave them the freedom to follow their own path without allowing them to drift apart. In her presence, differences were not reasons for division, but simply different expressions of the same family.
Her strength was quiet, but her influence was profound and her ability to unite people left a lasting mark.
The Bond Between Generations
In a family business, the passing of responsibility from one generation to the next involves far more than a change of roles. The values of the past must find their place alongside the needs of a new era.
Sevgi Can was the natural link in that transition. She preserved a sense of unity between the founding years represented by Mehmet Can and the later period in which their children and subsequent generations began to take on responsibility.
She valued each of her children for who they were, while always placing the unity of the family above everything else. She never allowed differences of opinion to draw people apart, reminding everyone that they belonged to the same family and shared the same history.
Through the way she lived, she showed the importance of moving forward without forgetting the past, embracing change without losing family ties and standing together through difficult times.
That understanding of unity remains one of her greatest legacies.
Her Place within the CAN Family
For Sevgi Can, family was never limited to those who shared her surname. Those who devoted many years of their lives to CAN Sigorta, close family friends and others who contributed to the company’s history were all included in that wider sense of belonging.
She valued people not simply for the positions they held, but for the effort they gave and the bonds they formed. She remembered long-serving members of staff, important moments in their families’ lives and friendships that had endured over many years.
Her presence therefore brought a sense of peace, warmth and trust not only to the Can family, but to the wider circle of people fortunate enough to know her.
11 September 2026
Sevgi Can passed away on 11 September 2026.
With her loss, a very special place within a home, a family and a company history spanning many decades fell silent. The voice that brought people together, the balance she maintained within the family and the reassurance of her presence are now deeply missed.
Some people never speak of themselves as being at the heart of a family. Yet when they are gone, everyone they once brought together feels the importance of that centre more keenly.
Sevgi Can was one of those people.
Her name stands for far more than an entry in CAN Sigorta’s shareholder records. She lives on in the life she shared with Mehmet Can, in the values carried by her children, in the unity she preserved within the family and in the memories of all those who knew her.
The space left by Sevgi Can is immense. Yet the people she brought together throughout her life will continue to carry forward the sense of unity she leaves behind.
Some lives may come to an end, but the bonds they create endure.
Sevgi Can will always live on in the love of her family, in the memory of CAN Sigorta and in the hearts of everyone who knew her.
We remember her with love, respect and deep affection.
May she rest in peace.
