RIP Serge Dassault (4 April 1925 – 28 May 2018)

[toura]

Serge DASSAULT is dead 93 years old !

 

[Trident]

Re: DASSAULT

Actually made the prime time news here in Germany, which impressed me.

A defining personality for sure.

 

[LowObservable]

Re: DASSAULT

Whatever anyone may ever have said about him, he made aerospace more interesting. For its size, Dassault has been a hugely influential company.

Had the Dassaults pere et fils been a little less ornery, there might have been a single five-nation European fighter project, and it would likely have imploded after the Cold War. So Typhoon is, in a way, part of his legacy, along with Rafale, CATIA and the Falcons.

 

[sferrin]

Re: DASSAULT

Made some beautiful planes. Also the fastest VTOL to this day.

 

[Michel Van]

Re: DASSAULT

He made the prime time news here in Belgium
No wonder with his involvement in Agusta-Dassault-scandal in 1995

According Belgium news, Serge Dassault died afternoon in his office, of a hearth failure.

directeur général, Charles Edelstenne replace him as Head of Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault.

 

[TomcatViP]

Re: DASSAULT

Made some beautiful planes. Also the fastest VTOL to this day.

Marcel was the father (the one born Bloch that setup the company). He died many years ago. Serge, the one that died today, took over the company after some years (there was no direct transition b/w the two at the head of MDBA).

 

[Archibald]

Marcel Bloch / Dassault 1892 - 1986
Serge Dassault 1925 - 2018
(92 and 93 years - 185 years of Dassault !)

Serge was a complex personality. Difficult relationship with his father, for a start. The entire family barely survived WWII, they all ended in Drancy transit camp, on their way to Auschwitz or Buchenwald. Marcel actually was deported, nearly died, and was saved by communists (the irony escaped no one).

The relationship between father, son, the company and the French state was quite troubled. They resisted nationalisations, but also growing too big or be bought by bigger companies - in France or elsewhere.

Serge late life really took a nose dive - what he did as mayor of Corbeilles Essone would make Silvio Berlusconi or Donald Trump blush in jealousy. Massive corruption and debt. Essentially his political career was a total mess. Father corrupted tyrans abroad, the son brought corrupt bargains closer from home. As for corrupt bargain to sell weapons, if only Dassault was the only one. See Lockheed past, present.