André Leysen (11 June 1927 – 11 July 2015) was a Belgian businessman. In 1951, he married Anne Ahlers, daughter of a shipping family from

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, Germany. Together they have four children: Bettina,

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, and Sabina.

Career

Main career

From 1952 until 1976 he worked for the

shipping company A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships. Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo: # Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that is ...

Ahlers N.V.,

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

(family estate). Since 1974 he is a member of the supervisory board of the

Agfa-Gevaert Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products, software, and systems. The company began as a dye manufacturer in 1867. In 1925, the comp ...

group, (Belgium). From 1978 until 1984 he was a member and chairman of the executive committee of the Agfa Gevaert group, and since 1984 he is chairman of the supervisory board. In 1976, he was one of the co-founders of the VUM, which took over the newspapers of the Standaard group after its bankruptcy. He led the VUM until 1978, when his son

took over. From 1990 until 1994 he was a member of the presidency in the board of directors of the

Treuhandanstalt The (, " Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/ privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Former positions

* Director of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) (1988 to 1997) * Vice-Chairman of BMW AG (1997 to 1998) * Member of Advisory Board of

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

AG (1988 to 1999) * Vice-Chairman of Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (1983 to 1999) * Director of

Hapag-Lloyd Hapag-Lloyd AG is a German international shipping and container transportation company, the 5th biggest in the world. It was formed in 1970 through a merger of Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG) and Norddeutscher Lloyd. History The company was forme ...

AG (1981 to 1999) * Director of

Bayer Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer' ...

AG (until 2002)

Current positions

* Director of

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...

AG * Member of the Supervisory Board of

E.on E.ON SE is a European multinational electric utility company based in Essen, Germany. It operates as one of the world's largest investor-owned electric utility service providers. The name originates from the Latin word '' aeon'', derived from ...

AG * Director of

Schenker AG Schenker AG (trading as DB Schenker) is a subsidiary of Danish logistics company DSV. The company was previously owned by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, which acquired the subsidiary back in 2002. It comprises divisions for air, land, sea fr ...

Bibliography

* A. Leysen, Krisissen zijn uitdagingen, Lannoo, 1984 * A. Leysen, Achter de spiegel, Terugblik op de oorlogsjaren, Lannoo, 1995 * A. Leysen, Zwerver tussen twee werelden, Reflecties van een maatschappelijk bewogen ondernemer, 2002, Lannoo

Sources

* Jan Bohets, ''Met weloverwogen lichtzinnigheid'', Lannoo (biography). * Luc Rosenzweig, En Belgique, une mémoire collective divisée, Le Monde, 14 March 1998 (http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-641295,36-658136@51-658124,0.html) 1927 births 2015 deaths Flemish businesspeople Belgian newspaper publishers (people) {{Belgium-business-bio-stub