Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Hubert d'Ornano (31 March 1926 – 25 September 2015) was a French industrialist who co-founded

Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedica ...

Early life

Hubert was born on 31 March 1926 at the family castle in

Mełgiew Mełgiew is a village in Świdnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) Gmina Mełgiew. It lies approximately east of Świdnik and east of the regional capital Lublin Lublin is ...

Świdnik Świdnik () is a town in southeastern Poland with 40,186 inhabitants (2012), situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, southeast of the city of Lublin. It is the capital of Świdnik County. Świdnik belongs to the historic province of Lesser Poland, ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

but moved to France at the age of eight. He was a son of Elisabeth d'Ornano and Count

Guillaume d'Ornano Count Guillaume Marie Emmanuel Ludovic Rodolphe d'Ornano (25 June 1894 – 16 May 1985) was a French aristocrat and industrialist, who co-founded Lancôme in 1935, and was an owner-breeder of thoroughbred race horses. Early life Count d'Ornano was ...

, a co-founder of

Lancôme Lancôme () is a French perfume and cosmetics house that distributes products internationally. A subsidiary of L'Oréal, Lancôme offers skin care, fragrances, and makeup. History Founded in 1935 by Guillaume d'Ornano and his business partn ...

in 1935 (which was acquired by L'Oreal in 1964). His elder brother was Count

Michel d'Ornano Michel d'Ornano (12 July 1924 – 8 March 1991) was a French politician. Early life Count d'Ornano was born in Paris on 12 July 1924. He was a son of Count Guillaume d'Ornano, a co-founder of Lancôme in 1935 (which was acquired by L'Oreal in ...

, who served as

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...

under Prime Minister

Raymond Barre Raymond Octave Joseph Barre (; 12 April 192425 August 2007) was a French politician and economist. He was a Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs under three presidents ( Rey, Malfatti a ...

. Through his paternal great-grandfather, Rodolphe-Auguste d'Ornano, he was a direct descendant of Countess

Marie Walewska Marie Walewska, Countess Walewska (; ; 7 December 1786 – 11 December 1817) was a Polish noblewoman in the court of Napoleon I who used her influence to sway the emperor towards the creation of an independent Polish state. In her later years ...

and Count

Philippe Antoine d'Ornano Philippe Antoine d'Ornano, Comte d'Ornano (; 17 January 1784 – 13 October 1863) was a French soldier and politician who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of France in 1861. Early life D'Orna ...

, a Napoleonic officer who was made

Marshal of France Marshal of France (, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to General officer, generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1793–1804) ...

. Hubert studied law at

La Sorbonne The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

university in Paris.

Career

In 1954, Hubert and his elder brother, Michel, founded Jean d'Albret, a perfume company that produced scents such as Écusson, Rafale, and Lavande. In 1957, his father sold his stake in

and joined their business. The success of Jean d'Albret allowed Hubert and Michel to found Orlane in the early 1950s. Jean d’Albret-Orlane was sold the year after his brother entered French politics in 1968, while Hubert remained the company's chairman and chief executive officer running the Jean-Louis Scherrer subsidiary until 1975. In 1976, Hubert acquired

from its two founders and, with his wife Isabelle in a small two-room office, began developing the company into "the fastest-growing treatment line in

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

, where, alongside

Bergdorf Goodman Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is an American luxury department store based in New York City, founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf. , it operates a women's store and a men's store across the street from each other on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. ...

, it was sold exclusively in the U.S." By 2014, Sisley reached 638 million euros in beauty sales. As of 2015, Forbes evaluated his net worth at $1.1 billion

U.S. dollars The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

Philanthropy

In 2007, Count d'Ornano and his wife created the Sisley-d'Ornano Foundation, under the aegis of the

Fondation de France The Fondation de France ("Foundation of France") is an independent private organisation, recognised as being in the public interest, and created at the instigation of Charles de Gaulle and André Malraux in an effort to stimulate and foster the g ...

, to "deliver charity work and philanthropy across sectors in France and abroad." The Foundation assisted with the restoration of the

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

of the Church of Our Lady Assumption, the seat of the Polish Mission in Paris.

Personal life

On 6 July 1963, d'Ornano married Countess Isabelle Potocki (b. 1937) at

Deauville Deauville () is a communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados department, Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its port, harbour, Race track, race course, marinas, con ...

, France. She was a daughter of Count

Józef Alfred Potocki Count Józef Alfred Henryk Potocki (8 April 1895 – 12 September 1968) was a Polish nobleman and diplomat who served as the Polish government-in-exile's Ambassador to Spain. Early life Count Potocki was born on 8 April 1895 in Szepetowka, a cit ...

and Princess Krystyna Maria Radziwiłł (a daughter of Prince Janusz Radziwiłł). Isabella's uncle was Prince

Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł Prince Stanisław Albrecht "Stash" Radziwiłł (21 July 1914 – 27 July 1976) was a Polish prince, later a British citizen, as well as a socialite and a businessman. He served as director of the Olympic Airways. Career Radziwiłł was a ...

, who married Caroline Lee Bouvier (sister to

First Lady of the United States First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is a title typically held by the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never been Code of law, codified or offici ...

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

). Her sister, Countess Dorota Potocki, married skier Luis Arias Carralón. Together, they were the parents of: * Count Philip d'Ornano (b. 1964), married designer Mina Pavićević in 1993; he became chairman of Sisley in 2013. * Count Marc d'Ornano (1966–1986) * Countess Élisabeth d'Ornano (b. 1968), the "face" of Sisley; she married Emilio Botin O'Shea, son of

Emilio Botín Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola García de los Ríos, ''iure uxoris'' Marquess of O'Shea (1 October 1934 – 10 September 2014) was a Spanish banker.Grupo Santander Banco Santander S.A. trading as Santander Group ( , , ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Santander, with operative offices in Madrid. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in most global financial centres ...

) and philanthropist

Paloma O'Shea Paloma O'Shea Artiñano, 1st Marchioness of O'Shea (born 19 February 1936) is a Spanish piano, pianist, Patronage, patron of the arts, founder and current president of the Reina Sofía School of Music, and founder and president of the Albéniz F ...

, 1st Marchioness of O'Shea, in 1989. * Countess Maria ''Laetitia'' d'Ornano (1970–2013), studied human ecology. * Countess Christine d'Ornano (b. 1973), married Lebanon-born financier Marzouk Al Bader in 2002. Their Paris apartment was located on the tree-lined

Quai d'Orsay The Quai d'Orsay ( , ) is a quay in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is part of the left bank of the Seine opposite the Place de la Concorde. It becomes the Quai Anatole-France east of the Palais Bourbon, and the Quai Branly west of the ...

in the

7th arrondissement of Paris The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is known for being, along with the 16th arrondissement and the ''commune'' of Neuilly-sur-Sein ...

, overlooking the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

. Count d'Ornano died on 25 September 2015 and his funeral was held at Bouges-le-Château, in the

Indre Indre (); is a department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administrative region of Cent ...

department of France.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:d'Ornano, Hubert 1926 births 2015 deaths French people of Polish descent French people of Corsican descent