Eliane Heilbronn, mother of Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, owners of Chanel, died at the age of 99, we learned on Monday from the Chanel luxury group confirming press information.
“Chanel has the immense sadness to confirm the death of Madame Eliane Heilbronn. The funeral will take place in family privacy,” according to a brief press release from the house of Chanel.
In March 1947, Eliane Fisher married Jacques Wertheimer, only son of Pierre Wertheimer, co-owner with his brother Paul of Chanel Parfums and then of the Chanel fashion house. The couple divorced in 1952 after having two children, Alain in 1948 and Gérard in 1951, current owners of Chanel.
Eliane Wertheimer studied law at New York University and obtained a legal degree in 1958. She married Didier Heilbronn with whom she had a son, Charles Grégoire who is today the head of the Mousse Partners family office.
In 1978, this specialist in copyright and intellectual property issues opened her own firm Salans Hertzfeld Heilbronn (now Dentons) which became exclusive advisor to Chanel for the entire world. Four years earlier, Jacques Wertheimer had handed over management of Chanel to his son Alain, aged 25.
“Since that date, not a single dispute, not a file, not a shareholding has been made without Eliane Heilbronn having given her approval,” writes Yann Kerlau in the book “The dynasties of luxury”. “His sons Alain and Gérard, but also the son from his second marriage Charles Grégoire, owe him everything,” according to the author.
It was she who drafted Karl Lagerfeld’s famous contract in 1982 when he was hired as creative director of Chanel by Alain Wertheimer, reports Le Figaro.
On the Dentons law firm website, Eliane Heilbronn was still a senior consultant.
The disappearance of Eliane Heilbronn comes at a time when Chanel has not yet named a successor to Virginie Viard, who left the artistic direction of fashion and haute couture last June.
Luxury group Chanel, which is not listed and only publishes its results once a year, reported sales in 2023 up 14.6% to $19.7 billion while profit growth net slowed (+3% to $4.7 billion).
kap/jbo/mpm
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