Léone-Noëlle Meyer (born 8 November 1939) is a French heiress, pediatrician, businesswoman and philanthropist. The adoptive granddaughter of the founder of the

Galeries Lafayette Galeries Lafayette () is an upmarket French department store chain, the biggest in Europe. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris but it now operates a number of locations in France and other countries ...

, she served as its chairman from 1998 to 2005. She was a pediatrician for 45 years. She has made humanitarian trips to South America, Africa and Asia, and she has supported Jewish causes and the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

. She was awarded the 2007 Medal of the Great Donor by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

for her philanthropy.

Early life

Léone-Noëlle Meyer was born on 8 November 1939 in Paris. Her father was unknown; her mother was a seamstress. Both her mother and her grandmother were deported to the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

in 1942. She grew up in an orphanage in

Rueil-Malmaison Rueil-Malmaison () or simply Rueil is a Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department, Île-de-France Regions of France, region. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is ...

until 1946, when she was adopted by Yvonne Bader, the daughter of Théophile Bader, the founder of the Galeries Lafayette, and Raoul Meyer, who served as its chairman from 1944 to 1970. She grew up in the

16th arrondissement of Paris The 16th arrondissement of Paris (; ) is the westernmost of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. Located on the city's Right Bank, it is adjacent to the 17th and 8th arrondissements to the northeast, as well as to the ...

. Meyer earned a bachelor of laws in 1960 and graduated from

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

in 1961. She earned a doctorate in medicine in 1972.

Career

Meyer began her career as a pediatrician at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital. She subsequently worked in ambulances for

medical emergencies A medical emergency is an acute injury or illness that poses an immediate risk to a person's life or long-term health, sometimes referred to as a situation risking "life or limb". These emergencies may require assistance from another, qualified ...

, and she taught at the Baudelocque Port-Royal Midwife School. Eventually, she opened a private practice as a pediatrician. She was a pediatrician for 45 years. Meyer served as the chairman of the board of directors of

from 1998 to 2005. During her tenure, she visited the shop floor, suggested the salaries of shop assistants should be raised, and installed air conditioning to improve their working conditions. She sold her 29.5% stake to her cousin Ginette Moulin's family for €930 million in 2005. Meyer owns a stake in

Publicis Publicis Groupe S.A. is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. As of 2024, the company is the largest advertising company in the world by revenue. Based in Paris, it is one of the 'Big Four' advertising commpanies, al ...

Philanthropy and political activity

Meyer went on humanitarian trips to Colombia, El Salvador, Cambodia, Mozambique and Burma. She has made charitable contributions to the

and the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

. She donated a sailing boat to the École des mousses in the

Brest Naval Training Centre The Brest Naval Training Centre (the ''Centre d'instruction naval de Brest'', or ''CIN'') is one of the main training centres for the French Navy. Housed in the Brest naval base, the CIN is made up of the lycée naval (a lycée that also prepar ...

in 2011. Meyer has also made charitable contributions to the Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France. Additionally, she has supported

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

Ethiopian Jews Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews, is a Jewish group originating from the territory of the Amhara and Tigray regions in northern Ethiopia, where they are spread out across more than 500 small villages over a wide territory, alongside predominant ...

to Israel. Meyer was awarded the Medal of the Great Donor by the

in 2007. She turned down the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 2010. Meyer made political contributions to the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

Personal life

Meyer married to Georges Meyer in 1964; he went on to serve as the chairman of the Galeries Lafayette, and he died in 1998. They had three sons: Alexandre, David and Raphaël. Meyer resides in Paris, and she serves on the board of the synagogue on the

rue Copernic ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of the genus ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Mediterranean. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for it ...

in the 16th arrondissement. In 2006, she paid €151 million in solidarity tax.

Nazi-looted art restitution case

In 2014, Meyer sued the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum for the return of a

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

painting that had been looted by

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

from her father, Raoul Meyer, in 1941 during the

German occupation of France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

. The refusal of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum caused Oklahoma's Republican state representative Mike Reynolds to call on the

American Association of Museums The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), formerly the American Association of Museums, is a non-profit association whose goal is to bring museums together. Founded in 1906, the organization advocates for museums and provides "museum professionals w ...

to review the museum's accredidation status for violating ethical bylaws. In 2016, after a long legal battle, during which the museum refused to restitute '' Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep'' (''Bergère rentrant des moutons)'' by

, Meyer arrived at a settlement with

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is an art museum on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma. Overview The University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art holds over 20,000 objects in its permanent collection. The museum ...

, and was able to bring the painting back to France. However the settlement specified that the painting not remain in France but, after five years, return to the United States and that the process of transferring the painting be repeated every three years in a kind of shared custody agreement. The painting, which had been displayed at Paris’ Musée d’Orsay since its return to France, was due to return to Oklahoma in 2021. In 2020 Meyers contested the agreement as unworkable, initiating a legal action in a French court. The Fred Jones Jr Museum sued Meyers, demanding that she be fined "$3.5m in the US and face penalties of up to $100,000 a day for contempt of court if she does not halt proceedings in France in which she is seeking full ownership of the impressionist work". On 1 June 2021, Meyer, who was 81 years old, abandoned the fight, relinquishing ownership of the Pissarro painting to the University of Oklahoma, stating, "I have no other choice.

References