Nicolas Hayek

Nicolas George Hayek (19 February 1928 – 28 June 2010), was a Swiss businessman of Lebanese descent, and the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of The Swatch Group. Early life and education Hayek was born the second of three children to a Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christian family. His father trained as a dentist at Loyola University Chicago. He had an older sister, Mona, and a younger brother, Sam. Hayek studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry at the University of Lyon. Personal life Hayek met Marianne Mezger, an au pair and the daughter of Swiss industrialist Eduard Mezger, in Beirut in 1950. They married in 1951 and moved to Switzerland. They had two children, Nayla and G. Nicolas "Nick" Jr. In 1964, the family moved to Meisterschwanden, a village west of Zürich. Hayek lived there for the rest of his life. Hayek was awarded the title of Doctor honoris causa of Law and Economics of the Faculty of Beni Culturali of the University of Bologna (Italy) in June 1998, after being awarded doctor honoris causa of Law and Economics of the University of Neuchatel in 1996. In the year of his death, 2010, Hayek had an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion.