Léon Antoine Bekaert (

Zwevegem Zwevegem () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Heestert, Moen, Belgium, Moen, Otegem, Sint-Denijs and Zwevegem. On January 1, 2019, Zweveg ...

, 9 December 1891 - Zwevegem, 19 December 1961) was a Belgian industrialist and politician. He was the son of Leo Leander Bekaert, who founded the family business in 1880. He expanded the family venture ''Tréfileries Léon Bekaert'' (1935), at Zwevegem (production of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...

) into

Bekaert N.V. Bekaert S.A. ( Euronext Brussels: BEKB) is a global company with headquarters in Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries ...

, a global company. He was President of the League of Christian Employers (1934–1961) and President of the Belgian league of the metallurgical industry ( Fabrimetal) from 1946 up to 1952, after which he accepted the chairmanship of the

Federation of Belgian Enterprises The Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (, VBO, , FEB) is the only Belgian non-profit organization representing companies in all three regions of Belgium. Its members, the different Belgian sectorial employers' organizations, represent companie ...

. From 1926 until his death, he was burgomaster of Zwevegem and of 1938 up to beginning 1961 he was regent of the

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; , NBB; , BNB; , BNB) is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Belgium within the Eurosystem. It was the Belgian central bank from 1850 until 1998, established by law of and issuin ...

. In 1958, he was one of the co-founders of the permanent international secretariat of the UNIAPAC in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, together with Peter H. Werhahn and Giuseppe Mosca, who became its president.

Sources

* Vandeputte R. ''Leon A. Bekaert. Een groot man. Een goed mens.(1891–1961)'', Lannoo, 1979. 1891 births 1961 deaths People from Zwevegem European Union lobbyists 20th-century Belgian businesspeople {{Belgium-bio-stub

See also

Sources