Ueli Prager (1916–2011) was a Swiss businessperson and founder of

Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts (; ) is a Swiss Hotel, hotel management company headquartered in Baar, Switzerland, Baar, Switzerland. It is fully owned by Accor since the September 2018 acquisition from former shareholders Mövenpick Holding (66.7%) ...

Early life and education

Prager was raised in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

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 ...

. He studied

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at Zurich University and had early roles at London's

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

and

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

hotels.

Career

In 1948, he established a restaurant in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, which led to the creation of the Mövenpick, encompassing various food products and eateries. Prager opened a hotel at

Zurich Airport Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...

in the 1970s and expanded into other locations. The company faced challenges in the 1980s and eventually he was replaced by his third wife, Jutta, in 1988. In 1992, Prager sold his shares in Mövenpick to August von Finck.

Death

Prager died in 2011 at the age of 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prager, Ueli 1916 births 2011 deaths Swiss company founders People from Wiesbaden