Olivier Dassault (; 1 June 1951 – 7 March 2021) was a French politician and billionaire businessman, who served as a deputy in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

Early life and education

Born in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

, he was the son of businessman and politician

Serge Dassault Serge Dassault (; born Serge Paul André Bloch; 4 April 1925 – 28 May 2018) was a French engineer, businessman and politician. He was the chairman and chief executive officer of Dassault Group, and a conservative politician. According to ...

and his wife Nicole (née Raffel), and the grandson of industrialist Marcel Dassault. Dassault graduated from

École de l'air École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

as a combat engineering officer and pilot in 1974. He was then a reserve member of the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

Career

In June 2002, he was elected as deputy for the first ''circonscription'' of

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

, running on the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

(UMP) ticket, the first to hold this office following the shift from

Proportional Representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. He was re-elected in 2007. A scion of the founding family of the aerospace engineering company

Dassault Group Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS (; also GIM Dassault or Dassault Group) is a French corporate group established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, later led by his s ...

, he worked in a number of roles within the family firm. He was president of Dassault Communications, president of the board of directors of French publisher Valmonde (a former family property), member of the board of the French financial newspaper ''Journal des Finances'' and an administrator of Dassault subsidiary Socpresse. In April 2020, his net worth was estimated to be US$4.7 billion. He was a 1974 graduate of the Air Force Academy (

) and held a master's degree in mathematics (1976) as well a doctorate in business management computing (1980). During his lifetime, he cultivated a passion for photography and published several books of his photographs. Dassault was also a composer and musician, and contributed scores for several movies in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Speed records

Having qualified as a professional IFR pilot in 1975, he set a number of world speed records: ::1977: New York to Paris in a Dassault Falcon 50 ::1987: New Orleans to Paris in a

Dassault Falcon 900 The Dassault Falcon 900, commonly abbreviated as the F900, is a French-built corporate trijet aircraft made by Dassault Aviation. Development The Falcon 900 is a development of the Dassault Falcon 50, Falcon 50, itself a development of the e ...

(both jointly with Hervé Le Prince-Ringuet) ::1996: Paris to Abu Dhabi in a Falcon 900 EX ::1996: Paris to Singapore in a Falcon 900 EX (both jointly with Guy Mitaux-Maurouard and Patrick Experton)

Death

Dassault died on 7 March 2021 when the

Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil The Airbus Helicopters H125, previously the Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil, or Squirrel, is a single-engine light utility helicopter designed and originally manufactured by the French corporation Aérospatiale, and later by Eurocopter, now Air ...

helicopter he was in crashed in Touques in northwestern France. He was 69 years old. The pilot, the only other person on board, was also killed.

References

1951 births 2021 deaths Politicians from Boulogne-Billancourt Burials at Passy Cemetery Politicians of the French Fifth Republic French businesspeople French people of Jewish descent The Republicans (France) politicians École de l'air alumni Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 14th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Knights of the Legion of Honour Dassault family French billionaires Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in France Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2021 Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents {{France-politician-UMP-stub