Photo: Benjamin Paris, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons¹⁴

Gaston Gradis

French businessman and explorer (1889–1968)

Gaston Gradis (7 May 1889 – 15 January 1968) was a French businessman and explorer.²

From Wikipedia’s article on Gaston Gradis (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born May 7, 1889, died Jan 15, 1968.¹

About

He came from a wealthy family of Bordeaux shipowners.

After serving as an artillery captain in World War I, he became the head of various transport and trading businesses.

He is known for having undertaken the first crossing of the Sahara by automobile in 1924.

From Wikipedia’s article on Gaston Gradis, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Companies

Compagnie générale transsaharienneFounder¹³

Early life and education

Date not recordedÉcole polytechnique³
Date not recordedLycée Janson-de-Sailly³
Date not recordedLycée Louis-le-Grand³
Date not recordedÉcole d'application de l'artillerie et du génie in Metz³

Gaston Gradis was born in Paris on 7 May 1889, from an old family of Bordeaux shipowners.

His family, which was of Portuguese-Jewish descent, had been granted the right to obtain property in the colonies by Louis XVI.

His parents were Raoul Gradis (1861–1943) and Suzanne Fould.

His grandfather, Henri Gradis (1823–1905) was a grandson of Laure Sarah Rodrigues-Henriques.

He was a nephew of Georges Schwob d'Héricourt (1864–1942) and cousin of Germaine de Rothschild (1884–975), wife of Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild (1868–1949).

Gradis joined the École Polytechnique in 1910.

In 1911 he volunteered for the army, joining the Artillery school in the same year.

During World War I (1914–1918) he was made a lieutenant in 1914 and an artillery captain in 1917.

For his actions in the war he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour and received the Croix de Guerre and five citations.

Gradis became president of Nieuport, the Compagnie générale transsaharienne and the Brasseries du Maroc.

He was a director of Société Française pour le Commerce avec l'Outre-mer, of Maurel & Prom and other companies.

In 1918 Gradis married Georgette Deutsch de la Meurthe.

Her father, Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, was the first oil refiner in France first at Nantes and then at Saint-Loubès, with Pétrole Jupiter.

Their son, Henri Gradis (born 1920), a corporate director, married Bernadette Servan-Schreiber, sister of Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber.

His second wife was the daughter of General Jean-Léonard Koechlin.

From Wikipedia’s article on Gaston Gradis (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: ship-owner, businessperson, military officer, explorer.⁵

Date not recordedFounded Compagnie générale transsaharienne⁴

Personal life

BornMay 7, 1889, 16th arrondissement of Paris⁶
DiedJan 15, 1968, Rabat⁷
CitizenshipFrance⁸
ResidenceHôtel Deutsch de La Meurthe⁹
SpousesGeorgette Deutsch de La Meurthe married 1918¹⁰; Antoinette Koechlin married 1935¹⁰

Awards

1925Prix Duveyrier¹¹
Date not recordedColonial Medal¹¹
Date not recordedCommander of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite¹¹
Date not recordedCroix de guerre 1914–1918¹¹
Date not recordedKnight Officer of the Order of the Polar Star¹¹
Date not recordedKnight of the Order of Agricultural Merit¹¹
Date not recordedOfficer of the Legion of Honour^{11 12}
Date not recordedOfficer of the Order of the Black Star¹¹
Date not recordedOfficer of the Royal Order of Cambodia¹¹
Date not recordedcitation à l'ordre de l'armée¹¹

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

1
WikidataGaston Gradis on Wikidata
2
WikipediaGaston Gradis on Wikipedia
3
WikidataGaston Gradis: education, on Wikidata
4
WikidataGaston Gradis: Founded Compagnie générale transsaharienne, on Wikidata
5
WikidataGaston Gradis: occupation, on Wikidata
6
WikidataGaston Gradis: place of birth, on Wikidata
7
WikidataGaston Gradis: place of death, on Wikidata
8
WikidataGaston Gradis: citizenship, on Wikidata
9
WikidataGaston Gradis: residence, on Wikidata
10
WikidataGaston Gradis: spouse, on Wikidata
11
WikidataGaston Gradis: award, on Wikidata
12
Wikidataaward, as reported by Léonore database
13
WikidataCompagnie générale transsaharienne, Founder
14
Wikimedia CommonsGaston Gradis photo by Benjamin Paris, Public domain