The majority owner of the iconic Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette, Ginette Moulin, has passed away at the age of 98, the company has confirmed.
In a LinkedIn post, the group said Moulin “would remain a model of resilience for our house of Galeries Lafayette and our profession,” noting her dedication to a client-centric department store model.
The company added that Mouline was “an exceptional woman whose unwavering commitment ensured the continuity and modernity of the group. She leaves a precious heritage: that of a family house carried by exacting standards, transmission and a vision of a future rooted in values while filled with momentum and renewal.”
A granddaughter of Jeanne and Théophile Bader, who cofounded the Paris-based department store in 1894 with Alphonse Kahn, Moulin was a pivotal figure among the five generations at the helm of the retail group.
She was born in Paris in 1927 to Bader’s daughter, Paulette, and Max Heilbronn, an engineer who joined the family business and later launched Monoprix.
Moulin grew up in Paris until France’s defeat by the Nazis in 1940. The family businesses were seized, with the owners as well as all Jewish staff forced to resign their positions.
During the Occupation, the Heilbronn family moved to the central city of Lyon in the “free zone.” Her father subsequently joined the French Resistance, where he became a pivotal figure. Arrested in 1943, he was deported to Buchenwald, where he met Etienne Moulin, who would go on to marry Ginette Moulin in 1947.
The couple had three children — Patricia, Christiane and Isabelle. Nicolas Houzé, chief executive officer of Galeries Lafayette; Guillaume Houzé, a member of the group’s executive board as well as president of Lafayette Anticipations and the ANDAM organization, and the group’s offer and buying director Arthur Lemoine are among her grandchildren.
In 2005, Moulin succeeded her late husband as president of the supervisory board of Galeries Lafayette. She also held the presidency of the Motier family holding, which serves as the investment arm for the family, a position she passed in August to Philippe Houzé, her son-in-law through his marriage to Christiane Moulin.
Awarded the Legion of Honor in 2010, Moulin was made officer in 2019. The same year, she was made an officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her contribution to culture.
Moulin was most recently honorary president of Lafayette Anticipations, the department store group’s art foundation.
The institution’s executive board paid homage to “a committed woman, patron and friend of artists who believed in the power of culture and creation” in an obituary notice published in the French newspaper Le Figaro.
According to French magazine Challenges, Moulin and her family rank 34th among the 500 richest families in France, with a net worth of more than 4 billion euros. They own 100 percent of the Galeries Lafayette Group.
The family also remains a key shareholder in the Carrefour retail group, through Motier.
