Olivier Dassault (; 1 June 1951 – 7 March 2021) was a French politician and billionaire businessman, who served as a
deputy in the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
.
Early life and education
Born in
Boulogne-Billancourt, he was the son of businessman and politician
Serge Dassault
Serge Dassault (; born Serge Paul André Bloch; 4 April 1925 – 28 May 2018) was a French engineer, businessman and politician. He was the chairman and chief executive officer of Dassault Group, and a conservative politician. According to ' ...
and his wife Nicole (née Raffel), and the grandson of industrialist
Marcel Dassault
Marcel Dassault (born Marcel Ferdinand Bloch; 23 January 1892 – 17 April 1986) was a French engineer and industrialist who spent his career in aircraft manufacturing.
Early life and education
Born on 23 January 1892 in Paris, he was the young ...
. Dassault graduated from
École de l'air
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
as a combat engineering officer and pilot in 1974. He was then a reserve member of the
French Air Force.
Career
In June 2002, he was elected as
deputy for the first
''circonscription'' of
Oise
Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,41 ...
, running on the
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right List of political parties in France, political party in France that was one of the two major party, major contemporary political pa ...
(UMP) ticket, the first to hold this office following the shift from
Proportional Representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
. He was re-elected in 2007.
A scion of the founding family of the aerospace engineering company
Dassault Group
Dassault Group (; also GIM Dassault or Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS) is a French corporate group, group of companies established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, a ...
, he worked in a number of roles within the family firm. He was president of Dassault Communications, president of the board of directors of French publisher
Valmonde
Valmonde is a French publisher of magazines. Its main publications are '' Valeurs Actuelles and'' '' Jours de Chasse''.
Overview
It was founded in 1966 by Raymond Bourgine. In the 1960s, Bourgine funded the Federation of Nationalist Students (FE ...
(a former family property), member of the board of the French financial newspaper ''Journal des Finances'' and an administrator of Dassault subsidiary
Socpresse
Socpresse was a French corporation which controlled the conservative daily newspaper ''Le Figaro'', the weekly magazine ''L'Express'', 40% of the weekly '' Le Journal du Dimanche'', '' Valeurs Actuelles'', and the football club FC Nantes. The co ...
.
In April 2020, his net worth was estimated to be US$4.7 billion.
He was a 1974 graduate of the Air Force Academy (
École de l'air
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
) and held a master's degree in mathematics (1976) as well a doctorate in business management computing (1980). During his lifetime, he cultivated a passion for photography and published several books of his photographs. Dassault was also a composer and musician, and contributed scores for several movies in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Speed records
Having qualified as a professional
IFR pilot in 1975, he set a number of world speed records:
::1977: New York to Paris in a
Dassault Falcon 50
The Dassault Falcon 50 is a French super-midsize, long-range business jet, featuring a trijet layout with an S-duct air intake for the central engine. It has the same fuselage cross-section and similar capacity as the earlier twin-engined Falcon ...
::1987: New Orleans to Paris in a
Dassault Falcon 900
The Dassault Falcon 900, commonly abbreviated as the F900, is a French-built corporate trijet aircraft made by Dassault Aviation.
Development
The Falcon 900 is a development of the Falcon 50, itself a development of the earlier Falcon 20. The ...
(both jointly with Hervé Le Prince-Ringuet)
::1996: Paris to Abu Dhabi in a Falcon 900 EX
::1996: Paris to Singapore in a Falcon 900 EX (both jointly with Guy Mitaux-Maurouard and
Patrick Experton)
Death
Dassault died on 7 March 2021 when the
Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil
The Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil (or Squirrel), now Airbus Helicopters H125, is a single-engine light utility helicopter originally designed and manufactured in France by Aérospatiale and Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters). In North America, ...
helicopter he was in crashed in
Touques in northwestern France. He was 69 years old. The pilot, the only other person on board, was also killed.
References
1951 births
2021 deaths
People from Boulogne-Billancourt
Burials at Passy Cemetery
Politicians of the French Fifth Republic
French businesspeople
French people of Jewish descent
The Republicans (France) politicians
École de l'air alumni
Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Dassault family
French billionaires
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in France
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2021
Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents
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