Paul Fentener van Vlissingen
Encyclopedia
Paul Fentener van Vlissingen (21 March 1941, Utrecht
– 21 August 2006, Langbroek) was a Dutch businessman and philanthropist. Ranked as the richest man in Scotland in 2005, he contributed to the development of game reserves in Africa and bought Letterewe
estate in Scotland, where he pledged the right to roam, years ahead of the rest of the country.
from his father, Frits II, whose own father had co-founded the business through a merger with eight other Dutch trading families in 1896. Paul's father, described as one of the "fathers of the Dutch economy", later bought out most of the other families.
before joining SHV
. Originally Europe's largest coal wholesaling business, SHV is the largest privately owned company in the Netherlands
. In May 1974, he joined the SHV board, and succeeded his brother, Frits, as chairman in 1980.
Paul led SHV as chief executive officer for three decades from the mid-1960s. Under his leadership, the company diversified into new areas ahead of the collapse of the coal market in the 1960s. The areas he became involved with included retail – through the Makro and Otto Reichelt chains of grocery supermarkets and cash & carries – and energy – through the acquisitions of LPG companies including Calor Gas in the UK and Primagaz in France. He also diversified into scrap metal, recycling, oil exploration, renewable energy and private equity. In 1995 he stepped down and then served as non-executive chairman.
Fentener van Vlissingen had a maverick leadership style and was more philosophical than most business leaders. For example, he recognised the possibility of the existence of global warming
as early as the early 1990s and had a love for cryptic aphorisms. He allowed young managers whom he trusted to establish Makro operations in overseas markets, giving them unusual amounts of autonomy.
, South Africa, Malawi
, Zambia and Ethiopia
. In 1978 he bought the wild and roadless 85000 acres (344 km²) Letterewe
estate in Wester Ross
, and in 2006 was described as the largest foreign landowner in Scotland. "I don't call myself the owner," he said of Letterewe. "You can't own a place like this. It belongs to the planet. I'm only the guardian of it."
An obituary in The Independent
said that van Vlissingen sometimes saddled a pony with a week's provisions and disappeared into the hills, staying at a bothy without lights or a toilet. The obituary said: "He was in the habit of inviting everyone, whether landowners, journalists, birdwatchers or ramblers, to visit the estate and talk about issues face to face."
He also proposed reintroducing wolves
and lynx
to this estate. The Letterewe Accord, an agreement that gave ramblers freedom of access to the entire Letterewe estate in exchange for a pledge to respect the land, predated the Scottish Parliament's own right-to-roam legislation by over a decade. Van Vlissingen was also a great supporter of Scottish Gaelic
, and donated £
250,000 to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
, a Gaelic college on Skye
.
The Sunday Times Rich List 2005
ranked Van Vlissingen as the richest man in Scotland, with an estimated wealth of £1.1 billion
.
After a near fatal brush with pancreatic cancer
in 1980, he founded the Van Vlissingen Cancer Fund, which is now one of the major cancer fundraisers in the Netherlands.
, ambition
, the euro, money, honesty
, change
and success.
instead. When they see their death approaching, they visit good friends and family to share happy memories and look back at the good things."
In an interview with the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf
published in April 2006, he said: "Our planet is in a much sorrier state than it was when I was a child. The destruction cannot go on at this pace. My generation should be ashamed of the condition in which we are passing on our planet to future generations."
In August 2006, the cancer got worse, and this led to his death during the night of the 20th-21 August 2006. The information of his death was released to the public on 22 August. Many broadcasters stated (wrongly) that Fentener van Vlissingen was the middle of the three Van Vlissingen brothers. In fact, Paul was the youngest.
art critic Caroline Tisdall, as well as several million to his lover Suzanne Wolff. The Scotsman
and the Daily Mail
reported that Tisdall had been prepared to tolerate the billionaire's relationship with Wolff in his latter years. He left the bulk of his fortune and the Letterewe Estate
in North-West Scotland to his two daughters, Alicia and Tet and to their children. According to the Daily Mail
, nothing was left to his ex-wife and the mother of Alicia and Tet, Ank Van Vlissingen.
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
– 21 August 2006, Langbroek) was a Dutch businessman and philanthropist. Ranked as the richest man in Scotland in 2005, he contributed to the development of game reserves in Africa and bought Letterewe
Letterewe
Letterewe is a large estate of several tens of thousands of acres on the north-eastern shore of Loch Maree, South-East of Poolewe, in Wester Ross, Scotland. It is one of the wildest, most remote and least populated areas in the United Kingdom....
estate in Scotland, where he pledged the right to roam, years ahead of the rest of the country.
Early life
Paul Fentener van Vlissingen was the youngest son of Frits Fentener van Vlissingen II, one of the leading Dutch industrialist families whose fortune was based on shipping coal on the Rhine in the 19th century. Frits III, his eldest brother, died in March 2006. John, the middle brother, is the last alive. Paul inherited a significant shareholding in the company SHV HoldingsSHV Holdings
SHV Holdings is a privately owned Dutch trading company, regarded as one of the world's largest private trading groups. SHV have interests in transport, retail, oil and financial services, including part of the Makro cash-and-carry chain.-History:...
from his father, Frits II, whose own father had co-founded the business through a merger with eight other Dutch trading families in 1896. Paul's father, described as one of the "fathers of the Dutch economy", later bought out most of the other families.
SHV Holdings
Paul Fentener van Vlissingen studied economics at the University of GroningenUniversity of Groningen
The University of Groningen , located in the city of Groningen, was founded in 1614. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands as well as one of its largest. Since its inception more than 100,000 students have graduated...
before joining SHV
SHV Holdings
SHV Holdings is a privately owned Dutch trading company, regarded as one of the world's largest private trading groups. SHV have interests in transport, retail, oil and financial services, including part of the Makro cash-and-carry chain.-History:...
. Originally Europe's largest coal wholesaling business, SHV is the largest privately owned company in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. In May 1974, he joined the SHV board, and succeeded his brother, Frits, as chairman in 1980.
Paul led SHV as chief executive officer for three decades from the mid-1960s. Under his leadership, the company diversified into new areas ahead of the collapse of the coal market in the 1960s. The areas he became involved with included retail – through the Makro and Otto Reichelt chains of grocery supermarkets and cash & carries – and energy – through the acquisitions of LPG companies including Calor Gas in the UK and Primagaz in France. He also diversified into scrap metal, recycling, oil exploration, renewable energy and private equity. In 1995 he stepped down and then served as non-executive chairman.
Fentener van Vlissingen had a maverick leadership style and was more philosophical than most business leaders. For example, he recognised the possibility of the existence of global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
as early as the early 1990s and had a love for cryptic aphorisms. He allowed young managers whom he trusted to establish Makro operations in overseas markets, giving them unusual amounts of autonomy.
Philanthropy and conservation
Fentener Van Vlissingen was recognised as an enlightened conservationist and contributed to the development of game reserves in ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, South Africa, Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
, Zambia and Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. In 1978 he bought the wild and roadless 85000 acres (344 km²) Letterewe
Letterewe
Letterewe is a large estate of several tens of thousands of acres on the north-eastern shore of Loch Maree, South-East of Poolewe, in Wester Ross, Scotland. It is one of the wildest, most remote and least populated areas in the United Kingdom....
estate in Wester Ross
Wester Ross
is a western area of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland, notably containing the villages on the west coast such as:* Lochcarron* Applecross* Shieldaig* Torridon* Kinlochewe * * * Aultbea* Laide* Ullapool* Achiltibuie...
, and in 2006 was described as the largest foreign landowner in Scotland. "I don't call myself the owner," he said of Letterewe. "You can't own a place like this. It belongs to the planet. I'm only the guardian of it."
An obituary in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
said that van Vlissingen sometimes saddled a pony with a week's provisions and disappeared into the hills, staying at a bothy without lights or a toilet. The obituary said: "He was in the habit of inviting everyone, whether landowners, journalists, birdwatchers or ramblers, to visit the estate and talk about issues face to face."
He also proposed reintroducing wolves
Gray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
and lynx
Eurasian Lynx
The Eurasian lynx is a medium-sized cat native to European and Siberian forests, South Asia and East Asia. It is also known as the European lynx, common lynx, the northern lynx, and the Siberian or Russian lynx...
to this estate. The Letterewe Accord, an agreement that gave ramblers freedom of access to the entire Letterewe estate in exchange for a pledge to respect the land, predated the Scottish Parliament's own right-to-roam legislation by over a decade. Van Vlissingen was also a great supporter of Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
, and donated £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
250,000 to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig is a Scottish Gaelic medium college located about north of Armadale on the Sleat peninsula of the island of Skye in northwestern Scotland. It is part of the University of the Highlands and Islands and also has a campus on Islay known as Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle.The college was...
, a Gaelic college on Skye
Skye
Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...
.
The Sunday Times Rich List 2005
Sunday Times Rich List 2005
The Sunday Times Rich List 2005 was published in April 2005.Since 1989 the UK national Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times has published an annual magazine supplement to the newspaper called the Sunday Times Rich List...
ranked Van Vlissingen as the richest man in Scotland, with an estimated wealth of £1.1 billion
1000000000 (number)
1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001.In scientific notation, it is written as 109....
.
After a near fatal brush with pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
in 1980, he founded the Van Vlissingen Cancer Fund, which is now one of the major cancer fundraisers in the Netherlands.
Entrepreneurs are jackasses
In 2001 he wrote a book entitled Ondernemers zijn ezels (ISBN 90-5018-295-X), which can be translated as Entrepreneurs Are Jackasses. In this book he discussed his experiences directing a large multi-national conglomerate. He followed this up in 2002 with a book entitled Overstekende ezels (ISBN 90-5018-583-5), translated as Crossing Jackasses. In this he discusses his views regarding entrepreneurs, corruptionCorporate crime
In criminology, corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation , or by individuals acting on behalf of a corporation or other business entity...
, ambition
Ambition
Ambition is the desire for personal achievement. It provides the motivation and determination necessary to achieve a particular end or condition. Ambitious people are characterised by their strong desire for attainment, power, or superiority...
, the euro, money, honesty
Honesty
Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and denotes positive, virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness along with the absence of lying, cheating, or theft....
, change
Change
Change may refer to:- The process of becoming different:* Social change* Biological metamorphosis* Change , the mathematical study of change* Percentage change, in statistics* Fold change, in statistics...
and success.
Deathbed warning for the planet
In April 2006, van Vlissingen announced that he had terminal pancreatic cancer and that he would not be having chemotherapy. He said: "In the Western world we mistakenly try to keep death at bay. I look to Native AmericansIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
instead. When they see their death approaching, they visit good friends and family to share happy memories and look back at the good things."
In an interview with the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf
De Telegraaf
De Telegraaf is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper, with a daily circulation of approximately . De Telegraaf is based in Amsterdam...
published in April 2006, he said: "Our planet is in a much sorrier state than it was when I was a child. The destruction cannot go on at this pace. My generation should be ashamed of the condition in which we are passing on our planet to future generations."
In August 2006, the cancer got worse, and this led to his death during the night of the 20th-21 August 2006. The information of his death was released to the public on 22 August. Many broadcasters stated (wrongly) that Fentener van Vlissingen was the middle of the three Van Vlissingen brothers. In fact, Paul was the youngest.
Unorthodox to the last
In February 2006 it emerged that in his will Fentener van Vlissingen left a significant portion of his estate to his partner, the former GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
art critic Caroline Tisdall, as well as several million to his lover Suzanne Wolff. The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
and the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
reported that Tisdall had been prepared to tolerate the billionaire's relationship with Wolff in his latter years. He left the bulk of his fortune and the Letterewe Estate
Letterewe
Letterewe is a large estate of several tens of thousands of acres on the north-eastern shore of Loch Maree, South-East of Poolewe, in Wester Ross, Scotland. It is one of the wildest, most remote and least populated areas in the United Kingdom....
in North-West Scotland to his two daughters, Alicia and Tet and to their children. According to the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, nothing was left to his ex-wife and the mother of Alicia and Tet, Ank Van Vlissingen.