Francois Dalle, 87; Led Global Growth of French Cosmetics Firm L’Oreal

Francois Dalle, who was chief executive of L’Oreal for 27 years and is credited with transforming the French cosmetics company into a global giant, has died. He was 87.

Dalle died Aug. 9 in Geneva, where he had lived in retirement, according to his personal secretary, who asked not to be identified. Dalle was buried Aug. 12 at a private ceremony in Geneva, newspaper reports said.

During Dalle’s time as head of L’Oreal from 1957 to 1984, the company acquired such prestigious cosmetics brands as Lancome, Garnier, Biotherm and Vichy.

He also was instrumental in expanding L’Oreal’s markets in Japan and the United States, where he worked before taking over direction of the company.

By expanding the L’Oreal brand beyond France, “Dalle wrote a decisive chapter in the history of L’Oreal,” Sir Lindsay Owen, the company’s present chairman and chief executive, said on L’Oreal’s website.

Francois Leon Marie-Joseph Dalle was born March 18, 1918, in Hesdin, a small town in the Pas-de-Calais region in the north of France.

The son of a brewer, he studied law at the University of Paris and, after practicing for two years, took a job in 1942 with French soap producer Monsavon. He later became director of one of Monsavon’s factories, and it was there that he met Eugene Schueller, L’Oreal’s founder and director, who had acquired Monsavon.

Schueller, a chemist by training, had founded L’Oreal in 1909, focusing on hair dyes and later expanding into soaps and shampoos.

Dalle moved to L’Oreal in 1948, where he was entrusted with improving the marketing outreach of a company that had 25 employees and sold its products almost exclusively at hair salons.

Dalle moved L’Oreal’s products to retail stores in the 1950s, an innovative step during a time when the majority of cosmetics were still sold at pharmacies.

When Schueller died in 1957, Dalle assumed control of the company, guiding its transformation over the next 27 years into the world’s leading cosmetics producer.

From 1950 to 2001, Dalle secured lucrative licensing agreements with top designer brands such as Guy Laroche and Cacharel.

Dalle is survived by his four sons and two daughters.