| Birth Date: | 11 July 1924 |
| Birth Place: | Clermont, Oise, France |
| Death Date: | 6 November 2016 (aged 92) |
| Death Place: | Paris, France |
| Education: | Lycée Janson de Sailly |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
| Spouse: | Béatrice Hermand |
Henry Hermand (11 July 1924 - 6 November 2016) was a French businessman, media executive and political adviser. He was the founder of Progest, a developer of shopping centres in Europe, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, which he sold to Klépierre in 2006. He was a co-founder of Terra Nova, a think tank with ties to the Socialist Party. He was also a benefactor and mentor to President Emmanuel Macron.
Hermand was born on 11 July 1924 in Clermont, Oise, France.[1] [2] His father was a shopkeeper.[3] He was raised as a Roman Catholic.[4]
Hermand was educated at the Lycée Janson de Sailly.[1] He joined the French Resistance during World War II.[1] After the war, his application to the École Polytechnique was rejected.[1] Instead, he earned a bachelor of science.[2]
Hermand began his career as a physicist at the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique (CEA).[1] He was forced to resign over his political views.[1] [5]
Hermand founded Progest, a developer of shopping centres.[6] He opened his first supermarket in Blanc-Mesnil in 1964.[3] In 1967, he purchased the Saint-Maximin forest from Élie de Rothschild,[6] and turned it into the largest retail park in Picardy by the time it was dedicated in 1969.[3] [5] A year later, when he invited singer Claude François to perform and celebrate its one-year anniversary, 10,000 people attended the concert.[6] Hermand subsequently opened supermarkets and shopping centres in the suburbs of Paris, Europe (including Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic), North Africa (including Morocco), and Sub-Saharan Africa.[1] [6] He often worked with Édouard Leclerc, the founder of the E.Leclerc supermarket chain.[6] In 2006, he sold Progest to Klépierre, a REIT publicly listed on the CAC Next 20.[6]
Hermand founded HH Développement, a property management company, in 2007.[6]
Hermand joined the Unified Socialist Party, and he became close to Michel Rocard.[1] He became an anti-colonialist and an anti-communist.[1] [5] He joined the board of Esprit, a political review, in the 1950s.[1] He was the chief executive and vice president of Le Matin de Paris from 1985 to 1987.[3] He was a co-founder of Le 1, another newspaper, in 2014.[1] [2]
Hermand was a member of the French Economic and Social Council from 1989 to 1994.[3] He was a donor to La République des Idées, a think tank founded by historian Pierre Rosanvallon in 2002.[1] He was also a co-founder and a donor to Terra Nova, a think tank with ties to the Socialist Party.[3]
Hermand first met Emmanuel Macron when Macron was 25.[4] He soon became Macron's mentor.[3] He loaned €550,000 to Macron when he was Inspector of Finances, which Macron used to purchase his first apartment.[1] [5] In 2007, he was his best man at his wedding to Brigitte Trogneux.[1] In 2016, he let him use offices for En Marche!, Macron's successful bid for the 2017 French presidential election.[1]
Hermand became an officer of the Legion of Honour on 28 June 1993 and a commander on 31 December 2013.[7]
Hermand resided in Paris and Senlis, Oise.[2] He authored his memoir, L’ambition n’est pas un rêve, in 2010.[8] In 2016, he donated €1 million to the Fondation Georges Cziffra for the purchase of the Collégiale Saint-Frambourg in Senlis.[9] He was worth an estimated €220 million in 2016.[10]
Hermand died on 6 November 2016 in Paris.[2] He was 92.[1] [2]