Emile Bernheim (1886–1985) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

industrialist. For more than half a century he was the president of the store '' A l'innovation'' in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, which he founded in 1897 in

. Soon other stores followed in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

(1899),

Verviers Verviers (; wa, Vervî) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the ...

(1900),

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

(1900) and

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

(1906). Besides being an entrepreneur he took several initiatives to support the arts and sciences. He founded the ''Bernheim Foundation'', the

Belgian Vocation Foundation The Belgian Vocation Foundation is a Belgian non-profit organization, founded on 23 November 1963 by the Belgian industrialist Emile Bernheim. The foundation provides support to young people with a vocation, but who can not complete their education ...

and the ''Centre Emile Bernheim'' (CEB) at the '' Universite Libre de Bruxelles''. He was also central in the creation of the

International Association of Department Stores The International Association of Department Stores (IADS) is a retail trade association founded in 1928 by a group of department stores with the goal of introducing modern management methods derived from the scientific management movement to the ...

in 1928. He died at the age of 99.

Sources

Centre Emile Bernheim

La Fondation Emile Bernheim

Bernheim maakte innovation groot
(Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernheim, Emile 1886 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Belgian businesspeople