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Étienne Michelin (4 January 1898 – 27 August 1932) was a French industrialist.
As the eldest son of Édouard Michelin (1859–1940), there was a strong likelihood that he would take over as head of the Michelin tyre company, where he worked as a member of the top management team. His early death ruled out this possibility, however.[1][2]
Étienne Maurice Michelin was born at Clermont-Ferrand in central southern France. He was born nine years after the founding in the city, by his uncle and father, of the family tyre manufacturing business.[1] In 1921 he married Madeleine Callies (1898-1936), the daughter of an industrialist from Savoy.[2]
The Michelin family at this time were known for their active advocacy of aviation.[3] A qualified test pilot, Étienne Michelin took off on the late afternoon of 27 August 1932 from the Aulnat Aerodrome at the controls of his 85 hp Morane mono-plane and headed towards the nearby Chaîne des Puys, a group of former volcanoes in the Massif Central.[4] Caught up in a storm, he crashed at Saint-Genès-Champanelle a short distance from the Puy de Dôme (lava dome) and was killed in the accident.[3] Press reports at the time suggested that, caught up in thick fog, he had misjudged his altitude.[3] A stone cross marks the spot.[5]
His widow died less than four years later: their orphaned son was brought up initially by his grandmother and, subsequently, by a deeply religious widowed aunt at Annecy.[6]
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