Philippe Wilmès (4 March 1938 – 24 May 2010) was a Belgian banker, businessman, and professor.

Early life

Wilmès was orphaned at a young age when his parents were killed in the bombing of

Limal Limal (; ) is a sub-municipality of the city of Wavre located in the province of Walloon Brabant, Wallonia, Belgium. It was a separate municipality until 1977. On 1 January 1977, it was merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business tra ...

during World War II. He was raised by his grandparents in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. Wilmès joined the merchant marine to fund his interest in

mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

, serving for seven years as a sailor and then as an officer. He also taught climbing at

ADEPS ''Adeps'' may refer to: * ''Adeps'', a genus of beetles in the family Tenebrionidae Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family Tenebrionidae, comprising over 20,000 species in a cosmopolitan distribution. Taxonomy ''Tene ...

, and subsequently studied law at the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

(ULB) and

Université catholique de Louvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...

(UCLouvain).

Career

Wilmès worked at the

Compagnie Maritime Belge The Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) is one of the oldest Antwerp ship-owners. It is controlled by the Saverys family who also own major stakes in the Exmar and Euronav groups. History CMB was founded in 1895 under the name Compagnie Belge Maritim ...

for a period and then returned to

UCLouvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...

as an assistant lecturer. He later spent a year at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) and lectured in Great Britain and Canada. In 1975, he became chief of staff to

Jean Gol Jean Gol (; 8 February 1942 – 18 September 1995) was a Belgian politician for the liberal Walloon party Parti Réformateur Libéral (PRL). He was a minister, on several occasions, in the Belgian government, including service as Deputy Prime ...

, a member of the Liberal Reformist Party (PRL). He was a founding member of the Belgian businessclub

Cercle de Lorraine The ''Cercle de Lorraine'' ( French) or ''Club van Lotharingen'' ( Dutch) was a Belgian business club, located in Brussels. The club was founded in 1998 to bring together distinguished and representative personalities from the Belgian financial ...

. Wilmès served periods as president of the Société Nationale d’Investissement and Société Fédérale d’Investissement. He became a regent of the

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; , NBB; , BNB; , BNB) is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Belgium within the Eurosystem. It was the Belgian central bank from 1850 until 1998, established by law of and issuin ...

in 1992, and was also a director of Tractebel,

Petrofina Petrofina was a Belgium, Belgian oil company. It merged with Total S.A., Total in 1999 to form TotalFina, which after subsequent mergers has changed its name back to Total. In the United States, Fina's former refining and marketing operations ...

, Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille, and

Fluxys Fluxys is a Belgium-based company, mainly acting as a natural gas transmission system operator. In 2004, it employed around 850 people and its infrastructure comprised about of pipelines and a terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium. The company is list ...

Personal life

His daughter

Sophie Wilmès Sophie Wilmès (; born 15 January 1975) is a Belgium, Belgian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium from 2019 to 2020. She later served as List of Foreign Ministers of Belgium, minister of foreign affa ...

became Belgium's first female prime minister.

References

External links

Philippe Wilmès
(UCL) Walloon people Belgian businesspeople 2010 deaths Central bankers Belgian bankers Academic staff of the Université catholique de Louvain Belgian economists 1938 births {{Belgium-business-bio-stub