Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Guy François Édouard Marie Ullens de Schooten Whettnall (31 January 1935 – 19 April 2025) was a Belgian

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

, philanthropist, and businessperson. Following his business career, Ullens and his wife

Myriam Miriam () is a feminine given name recorded in Biblical Hebrew in the Book of Exodus as the name of the sister of Moses, the prophetess Miriam. Spelling variants include French ''Myriam'', German ''Mirjam, Mirijam''; hypocoristic forms include ...

established the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation. He is also known for the

Ullens Center for Contemporary Art UCCA Center for Contemporary Art or UCCA () is a leading Chinese independent institution of contemporary art. Founded in 2007 and located at the heart of the 798 Art District in Beijing, China, it welcomes more than one million visitors a year. ...

in Beijing, and for having founded the Ullens School in Lalitpur, Nepal.

Early life

Guy Ullens was born in San Francisco, California, as the third child to Baron Jean Marie Joseph Anne Mathilde Alphonse Ullens de Schooten Whettnall (1897–1950), a Belgian diplomat, and a member of the

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

of the

Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the ...

. His mother was ethnographic photographer, writer, and

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

fellow, Baroness Marie Thérèse Pauline Francis Ullens de Schooten Whettnall ''née'' Wittouck (1905–89), of the Belgium noble family Wittouck, a daughter of distilling and sugar magnate , who together with his brothers and Paul Wittouck owned the

Sugar refinery of Tienen Raffinerie Tirlemontoise (), a subsidiary of Raffinerie Tirlemontoise Group (RT Group), is a Belgian sugar producing company. The company whose headquarters is located in Tienen (Belgium) has four business units: sugar activities, Orafti, Suraft ...

. The family moved to

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway, shortly after Guy was born, where Jean Ullens took up the diplomatic position of acting Minister for Belgium. Over the course of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the family was confined to Berlin, and later lived in India, Pakistan, and Iran.

Education and career

After taking a degree in law from the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, Belgium, in 1958, Ullens obtained an MBA at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1960. He started Eurocan in

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

, Belgium, a company that specialized in the manufacture of metal packagings for preserved foods and beverages. In 1973, he joined the management of the family company R. T. Holding, a conglomerate in food industries, and played as CEO a central role in the company's expansion into Asia. In 1989, the ''

Raffinerie Tirlemontoise Raffinerie Tirlemontoise (), a subsidiary of Raffinerie Tirlemontoise Group (RT Group), is a Belgium, Belgian sugar producing company. The company whose headquarters is located in Tienen (Belgium) has four business units: sugar activities, Orafti ...

'' was sold to German company

Südzucker Südzucker AG (, literally ''South sugar'') is a German company, the largest sugar producer in the world, with an annual production of around 4.8 million tonnes. In February 2014, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office imposed a joint fine of 280 mil ...

in a €1 billion deal. Proceeds from the sale were reinvested in food businesses via the holding company Artal Group, for which Ullens served as president and CEO. In 1999, following a change in strategy, Artal entered the textile industry buying French company Albert, and took control of Weight Watchers International in a US$735 million 1980s-style leveraged buyout in September 1999 buying from

Heinz The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz (), is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. ...

94% of Weight Watchers' equity. Artal Group subsequently earned US$3.8 billion by selling stocks while retaining a 52% majority stake in Weight Watchers. Ullens told ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' in 2012, that the initial US$224 million direct investment in Weight Watchers had returned US$5.2 billion to Artal Group.

Philanthropic projects

In 2000, Guy Ullens retired from business to devote himself to philanthropic projects with his wife, Myriam Ullens. In 2002 they set up the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation. One of the first purposes of the Foundation was to sponsor and organize exhibitions of Chinese art, and to lend pieces to museums and cultural centres around the world. Guy and Myriam Ullens helped children in Nepal by establishing orphanages and two intensive care centres for children with malnutrition. They also set up the Ullens School

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

, partnering with the Bank Street College of Education to train Nepalese teachers. The Ullens School Kathmandu is the only school in Nepal to be IB certified. When Myriam Ullens was diagnosed with cancer in 2003, Guy Ullens took over the development of the Nepal project.

Art collection

In the early 1980s, Ullens initiated a collection of Chinese art that is one of the world's largest and by 2007 included nearly 1,700 pieces. The Ullens Collection is managed by the Guy and Myriam Ullens Foundation. In 2007, the Foundation established the

(UCCA) in the

Dashanzi Dashanzi (大山子, Pinyin: Dàshānzi) is a 1 square kilometer area in the Chaoyang district of Beijing, northeast of the city center. It lies along the Airport Expressway between the 4th and 5th Ring Roads, south of the Dashanzi flyover ( ...

district of Beijing. In order to establish UCCA, Ullens sold off his collection of

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

paintings for £10.76 million at a

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

auction in London in July 2007. In a Sotheby's Hong Kong auction in April 2011, exclusively featuring 106 works from the Ullens Collection,

Zhang Xiaogang Zhang Xiaogang (; born in 1958) is a contemporary Chinese symbolist and surrealist painter. Paintings in his ''Bloodline'' series are predominantly monochromatic, stylized portraits of Chinese people, usually with large, dark-pupiled eyes, po ...

's 1988

triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...

oil work ''Forever Lasting Love'', of half-naked figures in an arid landscape suffused with mystical symbols, sold for HK$79 million (US$10.1 million), a record auction price for a contemporary artwork from China, in Hong Kong. In October 2013, Sotheby's Hong Kong at the Asian Contemporary 40th Anniversary Sale, Ullens put up for sale

Chen Yifei Chen Yifei (; April 12, 1946 – April 10, 2005) was a renowned Chinese classic-style painter, art director and film director. He has made many films such as ''The Music Box'' and ''Inyak Twilight''. Achievements Chen Yifei is a central figure ...

's political realist work ''Red Flag 1'' (1971), and ''The Last Supper'' (2001) by contemporary Chinese artist

Zeng Fanzhi Zeng Fanzhi (; born 1964) is a contemporary Chinese artist based in Beijing. Zeng's works have been praised as possessing an emotional directness, an intuitive psychological sense, and a carefully calibrated expressionistic technique. Born and ...

. ''The Last Supper'' was sold for US$23.3 million, setting a new record for contemporary Asian artwork. In 2016, Ullens, then in his 80s, announced that he was looking to hand over the UCCA and would sell his art collection at auction. On 11 February 2017, the

received the 2016 Global Fine Art Awards for Best Contemporary / Postwar / SoloArtist "Rauschenberg in China".

Personal life and death

Ullens married Micheline Franckx (1932–2015) in 1955 and divorced in 1999. They had four children, three sons Philippe, Yves, Nicolas, and a daughter Brigitte. In 1999, Ullens married Myriam "Mimi" Lechien (1952–2023), a Belgian entrepreneur. Since her shooting death in 2023, his son, Nicolas, has been under investigation for the homicide. Ullens was a

yachtsman A yacht () is a sail- or motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a ...

, and owned the 170 ft (51.77 m) long flybridge aluminium sloop ''Red Dragon II'' with interior design by French architect

Jean-Michel Wilmotte Jean-Michel Wilmotte is a French architect. Biography Jean-Michel Wilmotte was born in Soissons on 2 April 1948 to Robert Wilmotte (pharmacist) and Suzanne Léonard. He attended secondary school at the Soisson ''lycée'' and the Jean-de-La-Fo ...

. Built by Alloy Yachts in New Zealand in 2007 and commissioned in 2008, the yacht was put up for sale for US$28 million in 2015. Ullens lived in

Verbier Verbier () is a village located in south-western Switzerland in the canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederatio ...

in south-western Switzerland in the canton of

Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

, where he was a member of the

Verbier Festival The Verbier Festival is a two week annual international music festival which is held in late July and early August in the mountain resort of Verbier southeast of Lausanne, Switzerland. Begun by Swedish expatriate in 1994, it has attracted int ...

foundation, and was, according to ''

Het Laatste Nieuws (''HLN''; ; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders and Belgium. H ...

'', worth an estimated €250–330

million 1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the ...

in 2012. Ullens died at the age of 90 on 19 April 2025.

Honours

Ullens was appointed Officer and Commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

on 4 June 2003 and 1 February 2010 respectively, and Commander of the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgiu ...

on 5 October 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ullens, Guy 1935 births 2025 deaths Belgian nobility Belgian art collectors Belgian businesspeople Belgian philanthropists Commanders of the Legion of Honour Commanders of the Order of Leopold II Officers of the Legion of Honour People from San Francisco Social entrepreneurs