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Born on November 4: 1923 - Alfred Heineken, beer brewer (Heineken

PROFILE
The Life of Alfred Henry Heineken

Born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on 4 November 1923

Died in Noordwijk, The Netherlands on 3 January 2002

In the end life is all about advertising

Alfred Henry Heineken was born on 4th November 1923 in Amsterdam. His grandfather, Gerard Adriaan Heineken, founded the Heineken brewery in 1864 and his father, Henry Pierre Heineken, ran the company from 1914 to 1940. Alfred Henry Heineken started working in the brewery on 1st June 1942. From March 1946 to September 1948 he worked in the sales department of Heinekens American importer. It was during this period that his life changed completely: he became passionately interested in advertising and, most importantly, he met Lucille Cummins, a young American lady, whom he married on 28th August 1948.

In 1951, he started working at the Heineken Head Office in Amsterdam where he became the key figure in the Advertising Department, which he had set up. Had I not been a beer brewer I would have become an advertising man, said Alfred Heineken. The magic of the Heineken brand became his lifes work. He was the man who introduced the smiling letter in the Heineken brand name, he made the Heineken brand colour green and he was the man who was the spiritual father of the Heineken logo as we know it today, the combination of a star, a banner and a hop vine. Alfred Heineken, the brewer, turned out to be a marketing genius in an age when the term marketing was still unknown. I don't sell beer, I sell warmth was his motto.

Although his father lost the familys controlling interest in 1942, Alfred Heineken managed to regain the majority shareholding in Heineken N.V. He was a member of the Supervisory Board of Heineken N.V. from 1951 to 1958 and a delegated member of the Supervisory Board from 1958 to 1964. In 1964 he became a member of the Executive Board, and from 1971 to 1989 he was Chairman of the Executive Board of Heineken N.V. Under his leadership, the Heineken brewery grew into a global company. Alfred Heineken, as the majority shareholder and Chairman of the Board, was in a position to set out the long-term strategy for the company.

His vision was to make the Heineken brand a global brand and to conquer the European markets with the Heineken brand. By the time he retired as Chairman of the Executive Board on 27th April 1989, Heineken had become the most international brewery group in the world. From 1989 to 1995 he was Chairman of the Supervisory Board and a delegated member of the Supervisory Board. This was his last official position within Heineken N.V. He did, however, remain the majority shareholder and Chairman of the Management Board of Heineken Holding N.V., the company, which holds the controlling interest in Heineken N.V.

Alfred Heineken was also very active in social and cultural affairs. In honour of his father, he founded the Dr H.P. Heineken Foundation, a foundation that since 1964 has awarded every two years cash prizes for pioneering, scientific work in biochemistry and biophysics. In the 1980s, Mr Heineken founded the Alfred Heineken Fondsen Foundation, which awards, also every two years, four cash prizes to the sciences and the arts. Three Dr A.H. Heineken prizes are awarded for exceptional achievements in medicine, historical science and the environmental sciences. The fourth prize goes to an artist living and working in the Netherlands. Alfred Heineken has been decorated for several of his activities. He was made a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion and a Commander in the Order of Oranje-Nassau. In France, he was made first a Knight and later an Officer in the Order of the Legion of Honour. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Rochester. INSEAD, the international management institute, awarded him the honorary title of Master of Business Administration. The Burgomaster and Aldermen of Amsterdam presented him with the Silver Medallion of the capital, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences presented him with the Silver Academy Medallion in 1990. The board of the Cannes international advertising festival acclaimed him Advertising Man of the Year in 1995. In 1999, he was chosen as Advertiser of the Century in the Netherlands, and the Heineken brand was awarded Brand of the Century.

Freddy Heineken, as he was known to his many friends and a few close colleagues, had a very intense love of music, architecture, film, photography and visual arts. He found the ideal of the homo universalis most appealing. His wide knowledge, creativity, intuition and humour made him an extremely fascinating personality. His kidnapping on 9th November 1983, and his subsequent release three weeks later, were world news. Following that traumatic experience, Alfred Heineken limited his public appearances and became very protective of his private life. In the few interviews he gave he was known as a man who spoke his mind and had strong views on a wide variety of subjects, including on the subject of death: It is not all that dreadful to die, because it was not all that bad before you were born.

The driving force in his life was his family. Alfred Heineken is survived by his wife, his daughter, his son-in-law and his five grandchildren.

Alfred Henry Heineken died on 3 January 2002. Today the world says farewell to a man of many talents. The Heineken organisation is deeply indebted to him.