French Billionaire Olivier Dassault Killed in Helicopter Crash

French Member of Parliament and billionaire Oliver Dassault was killed in a helicopter crash on 7 March.

(Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia/Altered by The Quint)

French Member of Parliament and billionaire Oliver Dassault was killed in a helicopter crash at around 6 pm on Sunday, 7 March, along with the pilot of the aircraft near Deuville, northern France, investigation sources told AFP. There was no one else aboard the helicopter.

French President Emmanuel Macron offered condolences to the 69-year-old conservative MP in a tweet, saying, "Olivier Dassault loved France. Captain of industry, lawmaker, local elected official, reserve commander in the air force: during his life, he never ceased to serve our country, to capitalise on his strengths. His sudden death is a great loss. Thoughts for his family and loved ones."

French President Emmanuel Macron offered his condolences to Dassault. (Photo Courtesy: Screenshot/Twitter)

Dassault was a scion of the founding family that runs Dassault Aviation which builds Rafale fighter planes and is also the owner of a French newspaper, Le Figaro.

He stepped down from the board to pursue his politician ambitions and has been a lawmaker for Les Republicains.

Dassault was known to be the 361st richest man in the world, with an inheritance to a fortune of over 6 billion euros ($7.15 billion), according to Forbes Magazine’s 2020 list.

(With inputs from AFP.)