Émile-Justin Menier (18 May 182617 February 1881),

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

manufacturer,

chocolatier A chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients. Education and training Traditionally, chocolatiers, e ...

, and politician, was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1853, on the death of his father,

Antoine Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...

, Émile-Justin Menier inherited a large and successful Parisian company that manufactured a range of medicinal powders. His father's company also manufactured

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

as part of its business and Émile-Justin Menier would eventually devote himself to the making of chocolate. His

Menier Chocolate The Menier Chocolate company (french: Chocolat Menier) is a French chocolate manufacturing business founded in 1816 as a pharmaceutical manufacturer in Paris, at a time when chocolate was used as a medicinal product and was only one part of the ov ...

company purchased

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

-growing estates in

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and

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...

fields in France, erected a processing

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

, and equipped itself in other ways for the production of chocolate on a large scale. In 1864 he sold his interest in the drug-manufacturing business, and thenceforth confined himself to chocolate, building up an immense trade. He built a factory in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1870 and the next year he hired architect Jules Saulnier to design a new chocolate factory to replace their existing facility in

Noisiel Noisiel () is a commune in the French department of Seine-et-Marne, administrative region of Île-de-France. It is located in the eastern suburbs of Paris, from the center of Paris. The commune of Noisiel is part of the Val Maubuée sector, one ...

. Émile-Justin Menier was also a keen politician, serving as mayor of Noisiel from 1871-1881. Members of the family would be the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

's mayor until 1959. From 1876 until his death he had a seat in the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...

, his general views being strongly

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, while he consistently opposed protectionist trade policies. Menier was the author of several works on fiscal and economic questions, notably ''L'impôt sur le capital'' (1872), ''La Réforme fiscale'' (1872), ''Economie rurale'' (1875), ''L'Avenir économique'' (1875–1878), ''Atlas de la production de la richesse'' (1878) and, published in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

G. P. Putnam's Sons G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and J ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1878, ''France And The United States: Their Present Commercial Relations Considered With Reference to a Treaty of Reciprocity'

(''downloadable'') Émile-Justin Menier was made an

Officer of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

in 1878. He died at Noisiel-sur-Marne in 1881 and was interred in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His sons

Henri Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry (given name), Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the 'List_of_rulers_named_Henry#France, List of rulers named Henry ...

and

Gaston Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) *Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...

succeeded him in the business. Members of the

Menier family The Menier family of Noisiel, France, was a prominent family of chocolatiers who began as pharmaceutical manufacturers in Paris in 1816. They would build a highly successful enterprise, expanding to London, and New York City. The Menier Chocolate ...

would run the chocolate company until 1959. In 1898, a statue of Émile-Justin Menier was erected in the town square in Noisiel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menier, Emile Justin French politicians Chocolatiers 1826 births 1881 deaths Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Emile Justin Officiers of the Légion d'honneur 19th-century French businesspeople

See also

References