Léon Lhoist was a Belgian businessman. In 1920, he married Claire Dumont, heiress of Hippolyte Dumont, industrialist in the sector of the extraction of lime and dolomite.[1] He had three children whose Elisabeth Lhoist is the mother of Jean-Pierre Berghmans, industrialist currently at the head of Lhoist group.
In 1889 Hippolyte Dumont, his father-in-law, established the Carrières et Fours à Chaux Dumont-Wautier, at Hermalle in Belgium. In 1924, Léon Lhoist founded the Etablissements Léon Lhoist, a lime and dolime (dolomitic lime, or burnt dolomite) producer, at Jemelle, Belgium. In 1926, Lhoist established the Carrières et Fours à Chaux de Dugny in France. The Lhoist group has grown becoming the leader world leader in the lime, dolime and mineral solutions.