Michelin Man dies aged 88 years.

François Michelin, ancien gérant du groupe, est mort à l’âge de 88 ans.                                            Former group boss dies aged 88 years.

par Cyril Destracque mercredi 29 avril 2015 14:25

François Michelin vient de décéder à l’âge de 89 ans © MaxPPP

Dirigeant de l’entreprise pendant 47 ans, François Michelin est mort à l’âge de 88 ans. “Un visionnaire et humaniste” indique le groupe fabricant de pneumatiques dans un communiqué.            The head of the company for 47 years has died aged 88 years.         In a communiqué  from the tyre manufacturer he was described as “A visionary and humanist”

Toute sa vie, il l’a mise au service de l’entreprise. Petit-fils d’Edouard Michelin, le fondateur du groupe de pneumatiques dont le siège est basé à Clermont-Ferrand, François Michelin vient de décéder à l’âge de 88 ans.                                                                                  He gave his whole life to the company. He was Grand-son of the founder of the group Edouard Michelin based in Clermont-Ferrand.

L’homme avait dirigé le groupe pendant 47 ans, entre 1951 et 1999, avant de passer le relais à son fils Edouard. “Un visionnaire et humaniste” écrit la direction dans un communiqué, qui dit avoir appris la nouvelle avec “une profonde émotion”. Selon le groupe, sous la direction de François Michelin, “Michelin a connu un développement sans précédent”. François Michelin a franchi tous les échelons à Michelin avant de devenir gérant.                                                                                                                                                     He was head of the group for 47 years, between 1951 and 1999, before he passed the baton to his son Edouard. The company announced his passing with “deep emotion”. According to the group, under his direction “Michelin developed without precedent”. Francois climbed every rung of the company ladder before becoming the CEO.

François Michelin a perdu ses deux parents à l’adolescence. Il est arrivé dans l’usine clermontoise en 1951 à l’âge de 25 ans. Etonnamment, il entré dans l’usine comme ouvrier avant de franchir les échelons à responsabilité. Huit ans plus tard, il devient co-gérant de la manufacture de pneumatiques. Il y restera près d’un demi siècle, pour bâtir un véritable empire. Sous sa direction, Michelin s’est étendu sur 170 pays, pour peser plus de 15 milliards d’euros de chiffre d’affaire et devenir la référence mondiale du secteur, grâce notamment au développement du pneu radial, un pneu capable de parcourir trois fois plus de kilomètres grâce à une structure métallique. En 1979, Michelin crée aussi le pneu hiver.

Francois Michelin lost both his parents in his teens. He joined the Clermont factory in 1951 aged 25 years. Surprisingly he went into the factory as a manual worker before he climbed the responsibility ladder. Eight years later, he became joint director of pneumatic tyre manufacture. In a half century he built a veritable empire. Under his leadership, Michelin exported to 170 countries, gaining more than €15 Bn on it’s balance sheet and becoming the world standard thanks notably to the development of the radial tyre, capable of three times the kilometrage due to its metallic structure. In 1979 Michelin created also the winter tyre.

Un patron iconoclaste. An iconic patron

François Michelin est qualifié de conservateur et libéral. Il incarne l’image d’un patron catholique, anticonformiste et paternaliste. Cet homme discret est resté toute sa vie à l’écart des projecteurs.
La mission de François Michelin à la tête de l’entreprise se termine en 1999 et dans la plus pure tradition familiale, il laisse les rênes du groupe à son fils Edouard, qui décédera tragiquement dans un accident en 2006.
​La date des obsèques de François Michelin sera communiquée ultérieurement.

Francois Michelin was both a conservative and a liberal. His image was that of a catholic patron, anticonformist and paternalistic. This discrete man stayed most of his life wide of public publicity. His job at the head of the company ended in 1999 and in the pure family tradition he passed the reins over to his son Edouard, who died tragically in an accident in 2006. Funeral arrangements for Francois Michelin will be announced later.

 

 

About bill

Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer. The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013. Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI. Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug 2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website. But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien. The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50. Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea. Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
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