Étienne Michelin

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.

Life 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. 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. Press reports at the time suggested that, caught up in thick fog, he had misjudged his altitude.

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.