Born: France
Primarily active in: France

Jean-Luc Lagardere was the founder and former chairman of the European aerospace giant EADS.  One of the leading industrialists of his generation, he launched his career as an aeronautical engineer for Avions Marcel Dassault in 1952.  In subsequent years, he took on the challenge of privatizing the French aerospace and defense industry.  His great achievement was in merging Matra High Technologies with Aérospatiale, privatizing them in 1998 and forming EADS in July 2000. Jean-Luc  died in Paris on March 14, 2003, at age 75. 

AHS Update: Vertiflite Summer 2003