Gérard Blitz

Gérard Blitz (28 February 1912 – 3 March 1990) was a Belgian entrepreneur and Yogi.

Born in Antwerp, he was the son of Maurice Blitz and nephew of Gérard Blitz, both members of the Belgian water polo national team who won Olympic medals. Taking a Bronze in Water Polo, his Uncle Gerard, was one of only around eight Jewish athletes to win a medal in the 1936 Berlin Summer Games hosted by Nazi Germany.

On 27 April 1950, Gérard Blitz officially founded the Club Méditerranée association, having submitted its statute to the Paris Police Prefecture earlier in February. In the same year, he created Club Med as a non-profit, bringing the first group of vacationers to Alcudia on the Northern Coast of Majorca in the Baleric Islands South of Spain.

Ironically, Blitz's first idea for what would become a luxurious resort for vacationers may have come in 1945, when he opened a village to rehabilitate Belgian survivors of Nazi concentration camps.

Following in his father's footsteps, the Belgian-born Mr. Blitz initially found work as a diamond cutter.

In the beginning, vacationers led a somewhat Spartan lifestyle in tents, but the concept evolved as resort members later occupied straw huts, eventually enjoying a degree of luxury in modern hotels. Club Med found success with prepaid vacations that eliminated tipping, using beads for souvenirs or bar drinks, which relaxed guests by eliminating the need to carry much cash. Other resorts copied the concept. He was secretary and then president of the European Union of Yoga from 1974 to his death in 1990 at the Cochin Hospital in Paris.