Lucien Barrière (14 January 1923 – 17 September 1990) was a French entrepreneur and businessman. He was the heir and founder of the Lucien Barrière group, one of the largest group of casinos, luxury hotels, resorts and restaurants.

Biography

He was born in the French Ardèche region from a modest, goat raising family. In 1962, he was chosen by his uncle François André, who had no direct descendants, to succeed him as head of several successful companies specializing in the operation of

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

s and luxury hotels. The casinos of

Deauville Deauville () is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its harbour, race course, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino, and sumptuous hotels. The first Deauville Asian Film F ...

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...

and

La Baule La Baule-Escoublac (; br, Ar Baol-Skoubleg, ), commonly referred to as La Baule, is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department, Pays de la Loire, western France. A century-old seaside resort in southern Brittany with villas, casino, luxury h ...

and the hotels Normandy Barriere, Royal Barriere and the Hotel du Golf Barriere de Deauville were among the best known assets of the company. In 1959, he became the general manager of the group. For thirty years he developed the successful Barriere empire following the same policy as his predecessor: luxury, sophistication, perfection, elegance, refinement, friendliness and cultivating the French

joie de vivre ( , ; "joy of living") is a French phrase often used in English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life, an exultation of spirit. It "can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And ''joie de vivre'' may be ...

. He married Martha Szentgyörgyi (died 11 October 2008), a Hungarian dancer. Martha had a daughter from a previous marriage, Diane, born in 1957, which he adopted and raised as his own. He taught her the know-how of the trade, before designating her as the sole heir of his luxury empire. In 1962, he founded the Lucien Barrière group, one of the first French companies charged with managing casinos and luxury hotels. In 1975, Lucien Barrière sponsored the creation of the

Deauville American Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival (french: Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville, link=no) is a yearly film festival devoted to American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Ch ...

, alongside the major proponents of this idea, the Mayor of Deauville

Michel d'Ornano Michel d'Ornano (12 July 1924 – 8 March 1991) was a French politician. A descendant of both Marie Walewska and Philippe Antoine d'Ornano, he began his political career as mayor of Deauville in 1962. He served as president of the Genera ...

, André Halimi and Lionel Shushan. In 1990, he died at Caen University Hospital of cardiac arrest at the age of 67, following complications resulting from a coronary angioplasty carried out by Professor Grollier. Diane, married to the notary Dominique Desseigne, succeeded her adoptive father as head of the group and pursued the same successful policy as her predecessors. In July 1995 she was the victim of a serious plane crash that left her

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or ...

, and later died in May 2001 at 44 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barriere, Lucien 1923 births 1990 deaths 20th-century French businesspeople French company founders People from Ardèche