Olivier Dassault is a French politician, photographer and billionaire who served as a deputy to the French National Assembly.
Wiki/Biography
Olivier Dassault was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, on Friday, June 1, 1951 (69 years old at the time of his death). His zodiac sign is Gemini. In 1974, he graduated from the Aeronautical School in Salon-de-Provence as a combat engineering officer and pilot. In 1976, he obtained a DEA (Advanced Diploma; equivalent to a Master’s degree) in Mathematical Decision Sciences. In 1980, he obtained a PhD in Managerial Computing.
appearance
Eye Color: Green
Hair color: gray and white
Family and Race
He was born into a Jewish family with the surname “Bloch”. His grandfather later changed his surname to “Dassault” and converted to Catholicism.
Parents and siblings
He is the son of businessman and politician Serge Dassault and Nicole Raffel.
Olivier Dassault’s parents
His brother, Laurent Dassault, is a businessman. He also has a brother named Thierry Dassault. He also has a sister named Marie-Hélène.
Olivier Dassault and his siblings
Wife and children
In 1989, he married Carole Tranchant, but they later divorced.
Olivier Dassault and his first wife
In 2009, he married Natacha Nikolajevic.
Olivier Dassault and Natacha Nikolajevic
He has three children: Héléna (born 1990); Rémi (born 1995); and Thomas (born 2011).
Olivier Dassault and his daughter
Olivier Dassault and his son Remi
Other relatives
He is the grandson of French industrialist and founder of the Dassault Group, Marcel Dassault.
Marcel Dassault
Profession
As an Air Force officer
During his career as an air force officer, which began in 1975, he served as a specialist instrument flight rules pilot and reserve commander in the French Air Force, setting the highest speed record:
- 1977: From New York to Paris in a Dassault Falcon 50 (with Hervé Leprince-Ringuet)
- 1987: From New Orleans to Paris in a Dassault Falcon 900
- 1996: Paris to Abu Dhabi on a Falcon 900 EX
- 1996: Paris to Abu Dhabi in a Falcon 900 EX (with Guy Mitaux-Maurouard and Patrick Experton)
As a businessman
After his grandfather’s death in 1986, his father appointed him Deputy Director of Dassault Falcon Services Ltd., Director of Strategy for Dassault Aviation Civil Aircraft. He was Vice President of Valmonde Publishing Company, which publishes magazines such as Le Spectacle du monde, Jours de Chasse and Valeurs actuelles.
Hunting Day cover
He also runs the publishing company Socpresse, which publishes the conservative daily Le Figaro and the weekly L’Express and Dimanche.
Page of Le Figaro
In 2011, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Dassault Group, but later resigned, citing the incompatibility of his status as a businessman with the duties of a deputy; his position was taken over by his sister Helene.
As a politician
He served on the Paris City Council with Mayor Jacques Chirac from 1977 to 1989. He then stood for election in 1988 in the 1st constituency of the Oise department, representing the Rassemblement Republicane (RPR) party, and won.
Olivier Dassault as a Paris city councillor, pictured with Mayor Jacques Chirac
In 1993, he won the election again as a candidate of the RPR. In 2002, 2003 and 2007, he was a councillor for the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in the 1st constituency of the Oise department, and in 2012 and 2017 he was a candidate of the Republican Party (LR). He also wanted to engage in local politics and in 1989 he stood in the municipal elections of Beauvesy and was elected as a city councillor. In 1995, he again stood in the municipal elections of Beauvesy but was defeated. In 1992, he became Vice-President of the Regional Council of Picardy. As a member of the UMP party in the National Assembly, he served as President of the Finance Committee; from 1993 to 1997, he was Special Rapporteur on the Foreign Trade Budget; in the 12th Legislature, he was Special Rapporteur on the Culture Budget; in the 13th Legislature, he was Special Rapporteur on the Foreign Trade Budget. He served as President of several parliaments, including the Parliamentary Communications Group (1995-96), President of the Partenariat France Club (since 1996) and President of the Republican Entrepreneurs Committee (2015). In these positions, Olivier Dassault supported the reinstatement of the death penalty in France. In April 2004, Olivier signed a bill aimed at reinstating the death penalty for perpetrators of terrorist acts. In 2011, he declared his opposition to the legalization of same-sex marriage.
photography
In the late 1960s he began taking portraits, initially photographing French film actresses Jane Birkin, Isabelle Adjani and Isabelle Huppert, before turning to abstract photography.
Jane Birkin, Photographer: Olivier Dassault
ODs Bar by Olivier Dassault (Abstract Photography)
He has published thirteen books of photographs and exhibited them in France and in Houston, Jerusalem, Palm Springs, etc. His first work was Oniropolis (1977).
Other works
He started working in the French entertainment industry as a film producer and later opened an advertising agency (which he later sold). In 1975, he began composing music for the short film Camera. He made his debut as a film composer with A Straight Laced Girl (1977) and went on to compose music for the French films Question of Love (1978), Immoral Women (1979), Dumb But Disciplined (1979), Une robe noire pour un tueur (1981) and Les diplômés du dernier rang (1982). He made his debut as a television composer with the French TV series The Crime of Ovide Plouffe (1984). In 2007, he became an author with the book La France en majuscules.
Honors and achievements
- French Legion of Honor Knight
- National Order of Merit Officer
- Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters
- Ranked 361st on the 2020 Forbes Billionaires List
die
On March 7, 2021, he died in a helicopter crash in Touc, northwestern France, at the age of 69, while preparing to go to his holiday home in Normandy for the weekend. The pilot also died in the crash. After his death, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Lisieux (Calvados) announced that it had opened a judicial investigation for manslaughter.
Olivier Dassault’s helicopter crash photo
net worth
As of September 2020, his net worth is $4.7 billion and he is considered the 361st richest person in the world.
characteristic
- Holiday homes in Normandy, Northern France
- Corrales and his wife at the Punta Cana Resort and Club in Punta Cana
Olivier Dassault’s house at the Punta Cana Resort and Club Corales
- A manor in Sologne, one of the most popular with authentic hunter owners
Olivier Dassault’s property in Sologne
- Real estate in Salbris and Les Châtelliers-Châteaumur, France
Favorite things
- Photographers: Lucien Clergue, Sarah Moon, Helmut Newton, Bettina Rheims, Peter Beard, Olivier Föllmi, Ernst Haas
- Book: L’œil écoute by Paul Claudel
- Drink: Russian Earl Grey Tea
Facts/Trivia
- In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf, swimming, playing chess, reading and visiting art exhibitions.
- One of his hobbies was hunting, which he usually did in Sologne, where hunters gathered.
Olivier Dassault on the hunt
- He is the heir to the Dassault Group, the Dassault family’s conglomerate of aerospace and software companies founded during World War I when his grandfather Marcel founded Dassault Aviation and sold propellers during the war; the group manufactures the famous Rafale fighter jet. The Dassault family owns a brewery. In 2018, Forbes estimated the Dassault family’s wealth at $22.6 billion.
- Olivier Dassault founded the “Association d’Entraide” to support the elderly and vulnerable in the Oise department.
- In July 2002, he co-founded the “Génération Entreprise” with Jean-Michel Fourgous and Hervé Novelli. Génération Entreprise is a parliamentary research group, which he chaired from October 2012 until his death. Génération Entreprise has 120 members.
- He also chairs the French-Saudi Friendship Group of the 14th National Congress.
- In an interview, he talked about his photography style and inspirations, saying,
Several great photographers have impressed me. I am a colourist, but I admire the masters of black and white: Ronis, Steichen, Doisneau. Brassai’s love of pavements and walls gave me a new appreciation for street art. I was also deeply moved by the way Lucien Clergue, Sarah Moon and Helmut Newton displayed the body. There are many other artists worth mentioning, such as Bettina Remus, Peter Beard, Olivier Vermie… not to mention Ernst Haas, who was particularly important in my move towards abstraction. I like to treat faces as landscapes, with a pastoral feel! Later, architecture and my taste for modern art led me to explore the beauty inherent in the visual harmony of a building facade, a balcony or a row of chairs. Freeing myself from the need to paint gave me a more abstract view of everyday life. ”
- As a teenager, he was very shy and began to learn photography by taking pictures of his sister and girlfriend. Soon, he became fascinated with photography and decided to become a photographer. However, his parents wanted him to become an engineer and had other goals for him. They gave him the condition that he could do anything he wanted, instead, he should become an engineer first. In an interview, he said,
I was a pretty shy teenager when I started, and holding a camera helped me to show myself to the outside world – a young girl! (Laughs). The camera has become my accomplice, my close friend, a part of me. I’ve devoted myself to photography much more than I have to any other subject, and with more taste. I’ve tried everything! Then, when I started showing my photos, the recognition that followed, the sharing, only solidified my need to create and express myself through this medium. It told me that I had chosen the right path. “
- Olivier Dassault was also the composer of the National Assembly’s anthem, which brought out another side of his creative personality for that institution.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education