He left Thursday morning at the Châteauroux hospital center, surrounded by the affection of his family, at the age of 88. A native of Issoudun, Paul Picard spent his life in Châteauroux and devoted his hectic existence to developing his various companies, the most emblematic of which was obviously Harry’s.
What can we say about Paul Picard and his wife Marie-Françoise, otherwise “that it took both to make one”following the pretty expression of their son Hervé? He was an extraordinary leader of men and a limitless precursor. She held the purse strings with all Auvergne wisdom.
A founding trip to the United States
It all began with a founding trip to the United States at the end of the 1950s. His father Raymond developed Auga rusks whose factory is located on avenue d’Argenton. Back from the USA, Paul is convinced that sandwich bread is a product with a future.
Neither one, nor two: he embarked on the adventure by taking over an old disused biscuit factory on rue Pasteur, in 1965. The small company which was then called Sopani first devoted itself to small fruit cakes whose first customer was Ensign Séron. The sandwich bread then takes over.
The premises on rue Pasteur became too small, the Pont de Notz factory was built “with the means at hand”asserts Hervé Picard, in the early 1970s. Paul Picard then had this brilliant idea: Sopani became Harry’s, whose American sound would give an incredible boost to production.
At peak activity, 1,200 employees worked at Harry’s. Paul Picard is tireless, he is even invited to Mac Donald’s in Chicago, a brand of which he will become one of the suppliers. And this activity is all the more incredible as he suffered from chronic leukemia for 45 years.
“They were great”
The emblematic company was sold to a Belgian consortium in the early 1990s, before passing under the banner of the Italian Barilla a few years later. Thus sealing the formidable industrial adventure of Paul Picard.
A beautiful tribute to finish from his son Hervé to “the Châteauroux hospital and the service of Doctor Amal Charaa, they were fantastic. A big thank you also to Jacques Rabillard for his unwavering support. » The funeral of Paul Picard will be celebrated Tuesday October 8 at 2 p.m. at the Notre-Dame church in Châteauroux.
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