Marcel Bich

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Memorial plaque in Turin

Baron Marcel Bich (born July 29, 1914 in Turin , † May 30, 1994 in Paris ) was a French industrialist and sailor who founded BIC , which is now active in more than 160 countries .

Life

The Bich family comes from Châtillon in the Aosta Valley , a French-speaking region in the western Italian Alps . Marcel's parents were Aimé-Mario (1882–1955) and Marie Muffat de Saint-Amour de Chanaz (1886–1967), and his great-grandfather Emmanuel Bich was mayor of Aosta .

Marcel Bich studied law and served in the French Air Force during World War II . In October 1945 he founded the BIC company in Paris. For his company he used the shortened form of his name, Bic, because Bich is similar to the English Bitch in English and therefore could not be used internationally. He moved the company headquarters to a factory site in the neighboring town of Clichy , which he had bought in 1944 with his business partner Édouard Buffard. In 1950 BIC brought out the ballpoint pen BIC Cristal, which today (as of 2017) is the best-selling ballpoint pen in history; a total of more than 100 billion copies were sold. Bich remained managing director until 1993, a year before his death, before handing over the management of the company to his son Bruno Bich.

The entrepreneur Baron Bich was also a successful regatta sailor who produced the first challenger yacht in the America's Cup outside of the English-speaking world. For his four unsuccessful attempts with the 12mR yachts France I – III in 1970, 1974, 1977 and 1980 he was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame as a member (Inductee) , not least because he was the first in 1970 to host a professionally managed America's Cup -Campaign started according to today's model. He commits the exceptional Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm , from whom he split up in a dispute because Elvstrøm wanted radical changes.

He was married twice and had a total of eleven children. Bich last lived in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris.

Honors

  • 1998 member of the America's Cup Hall of Fame

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annual Report 2017 , website of the BIC Group
  2. ↑ Bic, un industriel à la pointe. L'Usine Nouvelle. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  3. ↑ Company history on the BIC Group website
  4. ↑ Marcel Bich's dream , pbs-business.de
  5. ↑ America's Cup Hall of Fame: Baron Bich . Accessed July 21, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Bich, Marcel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French industrialist and sailor
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Turin
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1994
Place of death Paris