Jean-Claude Decaux

Jean-Claude Decaux (15 September 1937 – 27 May 2016)[1] was a French entrepreneur who earned his fortune in advertising.[2][3] He was the founder and honorary chair of the advertising firm JCDecaux, which is now run by his sons, Jean-François Decaux and Jean-Charles Decaux.[2][3]

Jean-Claude Decaux
Born(1937-09-15)15 September 1937
Beauvais, France
Died27 May 2016(2016-05-27) (aged 78)
Occupation(s)Founder and CEO, JCDecaux
Children3

Personal life

Jean-Claude Decaux was the son of a shoe salesman in Beauvais, France.[4]

He was married with three children and lived in Paris.[5]

He died on 27 May 2016.[6][7][8]

Career

At the age of 18, inspired by an argument with his father over the family shoe store's window display, Jean-Claude started a business creating billboards along French roadways.[4] In 1963, legislation in France placed restrictions on billboard use which forced Decaux out of business.[9] He founded JCDecaux in 1964.[10] He made a deal with the city of Lyon, proposing that he would build bus shelters and keep them clean in exchange for advertising space there. The company quickly expanded to other cities.[11]

In 1980, Decaux personally designed the Sanisette public toilet, a self-cleaning public toilet, as a replacement for the pissoirs of Paris.[4][12]

In January 2015, according to Forbes, he had a net worth of $6.2 billion.[5]

See also

References
  1. Jean-Claude Decaux, père de l'Abribus et roi de l'affichage publicitaire, est mort (in French)
  2. Forbes profile
  3. BusinessWeek
  4. Peter Hellman (3 May 1993). "The Toilet Wars". New York Magazine: 42.
  5. "Jean-Claude Decaux". Forbes. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  6. "Ad tycoon Jean-Claude Decaux, pioneer of self-cleaning public toilets, dies at 78". 27 May 2016.
  7. "Outdoor-Advertising Pioneer Jean-Claude Decaux Dies at 78". Bloomberg.com. 27 May 2016.
  8. Eléanor Douet (27 May 2016). "Jean-Claude Decaux, l'inventeur de l'Abribus, est décédé à l'âge de 78 ans". RTL (in French).
  9. "History of JCDecaux S.A."
  10. Tina Grant, ed. (February 2006). International Directory of Company Histories. Vol. 76. p. 213. ISBN 9781558625808.
  11. Roger Parry (22 September 2011). The Ascent of Media: From Gilgamesh to Google via Gutenberg. ISBN 9781857889468.
  12. Clara Greed (June 2007). Inclusive Urban Design: Public Toilets. p. 80. ISBN 9781136396182.


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