Pierre Louis-Dreyfus

French Resistance fighter and military pilot during World War II who later served as CEO of the Louis Dreyfus company.

Pierre Louis-Dreyfus was one of four children born to Charles Louis-Dreyfus (1870–1929), a merchant and ship-owner, and Sarah Germaine Hément. His family was Jewish. His paternal grandfather, Léopold Louis-Dreyfus, founded the Louis Dreyfus Group in 1851. He had two siblings, brother François Louis Dreyfus (1909–1958) and sister, Arlette Louis Dreyfus (1911–2001).

After the war, he returned to the family business, Louis-Dreyfus and Co where he became first Vice-President and then served as CEO from 1967 until 1975. He significantly expanded the maritime trade of the company under his direction. The company, now known as Louis Dreyfus Group, had $46 billion in sales in 2011. Upon retirement, his son, Gérard Louis-Dreyfus, headed the company.

Louis-Dreyfus was married twice. In 1929, he married American-born Dolores Neubauer, the daughter of a Brazilian father and a Mexican mother. They had two children: a daughter, Dominique (b. 1930), and a son, Gerard (1932-2016, father of Julia). They separated in 1935 and divorced in 1936. Dolores obtained custody of the children and while Pierre was fighting in World War II she moved to the United States in 1940 and returned to France in 1945. She remarried to Michel Théodore Robert Edmond Porges (1908-1999).

In 1937, Pierre married Claude Singer. They had two children, Philippe (born 1945) and Danièle Louis-Dreyfus (died 2006).

Pierre Louis-Dreyfus participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans eleven times between 1931 and 1955. He raced under the pseudonym 'Heldé', derived from L-D (Louis-Dreyfus). He died on 15 January 2011 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, aged 102. His granddaughter is American actress and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus.