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 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 ...

, and a conservative politician. According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', Dassault's net worth was estimated in 2016 at US$15 billion.

Early life and education

He was the younger son of Madeleine Dassault ( Minckes) and

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 ...

(born Marcel Ferdinand Bloch), from whom he inherited the

. Both his parents were of Jewish heritage, but later converted to Roman Catholicism. In 1929, his father founded what is now

Dassault Aviation Dassault Aviation SA () is a French Aerospace manufacturer, manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets. It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Dassault, Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marc ...

. During the Second World War, he was jailed when his father was sent to

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

for refusing any cooperation from his company,

Bordeaux-Aéronautique Bordeaux Aéronautique (BA) was a French aeronautic company founded on 17 March 1939, by Marcel Bloch, André Curvale, Henri Deplante and Claude de Cambronne. History Facing plane production increase, the SAAMB buys in September 1939, in Tal ...

, directed by Henri Déplante, André Curvale and

Claude de Cambronne Claude de Cambronne (23 October 1905 – 31 January 1993) was a French businessman. Early life He studied at the École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace (Sup'Aéro), learnt how to fly to polar explorer, Paul-Émile Vict ...

, with the German aviation industry. He studied at the

Lycée Janson de Sailly In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

. He earned engineering degrees from the

École Polytechnique 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 ...

(class of 1946) and Supaéro (class of 1951). In 1963, he received an

Executive MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

HEC Paris HEC Paris (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) is a business school, and one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles, located in Jouy-en-Josas, France. HEC offers Master in Management, MSc International Fi ...

Business career

After his father's death in 1986, Serge Dassault continued developing the company, with the help of CEOs

Charles Edelstenne Charles Edelstenne (born 9 January 1938) is the general manager of Dassault Group. He was the CEO of Dassault Aviation until replaced by Éric Trappier in 2013, and he is also the chairman of Dassault Systèmes. Trained as a French chartered ac ...

and

Éric Trappier Éric Trappier (born 6 January 1960) is a French businessman and engineer. Since January 2013, he has been the CEO of Dassault Aviation, French Aerospace manufacturer, aircraft manufacturer of military aircraft, military and business jet, business ...

. His group also owned the newspaper ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

''. In December 1998, he was sentenced to two years' probation in the Belgian

Agusta scandal The Agusta scandal (french: Affaire Agusta, nl, Agustaschandaal), alternatively known as the Agusta–Dassault Case, was a major political scandal which occurred in Belgium during the 1990s, based on allegations that two multinational companies ...

, and was fined 60,000 Belgian francs (about €1,500). According to ''

'', the Dassault family also owns a winery, property in Paris, and an art auction house.

Political career

Dassault was a member of 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 political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Social ...

political party, as was his son

Olivier Olivier is the French form of the given name Oliver. It may refer to: * Olivier (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Olivier (surname), a list of people * Château Olivier, a Bordeaux winery *Olivier, Louisiana, a rural popul ...

, who was a

deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spai ...

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 repre ...

. He was a former mayor of the city of

Corbeil-Essonnes Corbeil-Essonnes () on the River Seine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture building ...

, a southern suburb of Paris. In 2004, he became a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, and in that position, he was an outspoken advocate of conservative positions on economic and employment issues, claiming that France's taxes and workforce regulations ruin its entrepreneurs. In 2005, he inaugurated the €2 million ''Islamic cultural centre'' (comprising a mosque) in his city of Corbeil-Essonnes. In November 2012, responding to the Ayrault government's plan to legalise

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

, he controversially said, during an interview for ''

France Culture France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. Its programming encompasses a wide variety of features on historical, philosophical, sociopolitical, and scientific themes (including debates, discussions, and documentari ...

'', that authorising it would cause "no more renewal of the population. ..We'll have a country of homosexuals. And so in ten years there'll be nobody left. It's stupid".

Personal life and death

Dassault married Nicole Raffel on 5 July 1950. They had four children:

Laurent Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

Thierry Thierry is a French male given name, derived from the Germanic "Theodoric". It is the cognate of German " Dietrich" and " Dieter", English Terry, Derek and Derrick, and of various forms in other European languages. It is also a surname. People w ...

, and Marie-Hélène. He died suddenly in his office at the Dassault Group headquarters in Paris on 28 May 2018, from heart failure at the age of 93.Décès de Serge Dassault
/ref>

References

External links

Serge Dassault and family
– ''Forbes'' profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Dassault, Serge 1925 births 2018 deaths Politicians from Paris

Serge Serge may refer to: *Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric *Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme *Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name) *Serge (post), a hitchi ...