Édouard Muller (February 16, 1885 – September 28, 1948) was a Swiss-French businessman who expanded Nestlé's international operations, and succeeded Louis Dapples as CEO from 1937 until his sudden death in 1948.Henri Rieben - Portraits de 250 entreprises vaudoises 1980 "En 1937, Edouard Muller avait succédé à Louis Dapples à la présidence de Nestlé. Fils du jardinier des Roussy, Edouard Muller, ancien du collège de Vevey, était entré à Nestlé en 1903 et s'était distingué pendant la Première Guerre mondiale à la direction des agences de vente du Proche-Orient, à Constantinople, à Salonique et à Athènes. Un quart de siècle plus tard, il va rendre de plus grands services encore en Amérique. C'est une force de la nature. C'est aussi une force d'âme. Autant Dapples était un banquier, homme de haut lignage, catapulté d'en haut, .... Edouard Muller meurt brusquement en 1948 à la fin d'un voyage en Amérique latine et aux Etats-Unis."
Childhood Edouard Muller was born on February 16, 1885, the son of Edouard Johann Muller, and grandson of Johann Muller owner of a gasthouse (large inn), who was born in Untersiggenthal in canton of Aargau, Switzerland. His father moved from his home village to seek gardening work in the shores area of Lac Leman. His father found employment at the home called La Beque, owned by the family of a wealthy founder of the Nestlé company whose family patriarch was Emil-Louis Roussy who served on the Nestle Board of Directors from 1905 until 1920. Edouard Johann earned acclaim in the Vaud Horticultural Society while employed by the Roussy's and he married Philippine Denereaz from nearby Chardonne and Corsier. Edouard Johann and Philippine had two children, Rose and Edouard Muller. They enjoyed the lakeside, the gardens, the orchard and the Roussy yacht “Vesta”. Young Edouard explored the old underground passages of the old castle of La Tour-de-Peilz. His schooling records were good but noted some indiscipline. His formal education ended at age 16.
Early business career Muller started his outside employment career with the bank Credit Leman at age 16 as an apprentice. He was fired in three days because he played a trick on a friend. Or so he thought. He locked the door at lunchtime expecting his friend to look through the old large keyhole of the door to see what he could to explain why the door was locked. When Edouard squirted water through the hole after the rattling when the next person came to enter, he squished that water into the manager's eye. He was excused for his youthful indiscretion and remained there for two years.
Nestlé Muller was given an introduction to start employment at Nestlé when Emil-Louis Roussy used his influence to help the 18-year-old. Edouard became the corresponding secretary for Alfred Liotard, who together with Louis Aguet headed Nestle's overseas business starting October 1, 1903. Edouard was multi-lingual at this time. He spoke German, French and English. He enjoyed the hectic pace of work after the mail arrived by boat monthly. Edouard became friends with Ariste Lehmann, another Swiss in England and they saved and ventured to Paris to enjoy its cultures that differed from those in London. He did not enjoy the gray and damp London weather and longed for the warmer lakeside climate he grew up in. Edouard's first manager's position was in the Chocolate Export Department. In 1908 he was made manager of the South American Department. He was later made manager of the Near East Agencies covering the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia. The headquarters to one of the countries was in Constantinople, now Istanbul. Liotard suggested Edouard move to Constantinople which was happily accepted by Edouard and his family. Arriving there in 1911 at the age of twenty-six he conceived the idea of promoting chocolate sales among women by including movie-coupons in the wrappers.Wilson library bulletin: Stanley Kunitz, Marie D. Loizeaux, H.W. Wilson Company - 1948 "Edouard Muller, head of Nestles milk ... Sent to Turkey at the age of twenty-six to promote Nestle's products, he conceived the idea of movies for the harem-bound women of Istanbul, having chocolate labels for entrance fees." The war between the Turks and the Bulgarians soon forced a move for Edouard and his family to Athens, where they lived at the Hotel de Grand Bretagne and then at a rented home in Kephica.
World War I World War I started in August 1914 while Edouard was in the Near-East where British and German forces were active. Condensed milk and chocolate were very much in demand for the troops. Moving goods was a constant problem with some items being scarce and travel was difficult because individuals needed special military permits. Edouard worked with gentlemen Nestlé associates named Brander, Riggenbach, and Gredinger who were also Swiss citizens. Edouard was in Salonika during a five o'clock in the morning bombing led by the Germans. A squadron of 20 airplanes dropped bombs. The zeppelin could not reach Salonika according to Edward. He, while still in his pajamas, jumped into a small boat with someone from the Hotel Olympos and watched the bombing. The target district was where the customs offices were near the Olympos Hotel. He noted in a letter to his wife that business had deteriorated because no one wanted to stock up at this time. Edouard wanted to centralize near East operations in Egypt but the military would not provide such a permit. Edouard therefore centralized activities in Athens. Once while in Athens when the city was a target for bombing from battleships Edouard used his body to cover his son and protect him in the staircase of the hotel in which they were staying.
Edouard was appointed a delegate of the Swiss Red Cross which allowed him access to Swiss diplomatic pouches. Edouard was asked favors by persons wanting to use that diplomatic pouch. Edouard did have to obtain dismissal at a military court of spying charges as a result of suspicions. As the First World War was drawing to an end Nestlé move the Muller family to Paris where it now had one of its headquarters. Nestlé at this time was in trouble due to the huge stocks of products, including large quantities of sweetened condensed milk with coffee flavor. To sell products a good deal of traveling was necessary. Edouard traveled to Egypt in sweltering heat. In 1918 the British troops were still in Egypt and they could use the goods he had to dispose of.
Edouard was promoted to manager for the European and Latin American markets at the Paris headquarters. Edouard faced a surplus of canned food for which demand had dropped and disposal became a difficulty. All merchants faced difficult times as well. Nestlé and the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company did not escape the financial crisis that developed after the 1914 to 1918 war. The company had suffered such losses that the nominal value of its shares had to be cut in half in 1921. Creditor banks took some control over the organization and lent additional monies to the business and controlled the corporate recovery to some degree. Louis Dapples, a Swiss who had been living in Italy, with a long banking career and international ties was appointed chairman and chief executive officer of Nestlé. At that time, Nestlé had several head offices including London, Paris, Cham, and Vevey. After a reorganization forced managers in those four locations to quit, Muller was sent all over Europe to report on the actual situation facing various branches of the Nestlé group. Muller was away from home for months at a time collecting information and creating numerous reports. Edouard held the opinion that the foundation of Nestlé was still in a healthy condition.
Inter-war years After this extensive field research work, Muller was made a general manager of Nestlé. Dapples wished to relocate the head office to London; Muller simply refused to go. He had not liked the weather in London when he was stationed there before. Dapples then asked if Muller would consider staying in Switzerland in Vevey, to which he readily agreed. Many key Nestlé men moved from London and Paris and Cham to consolidate headquarters in Vevey. Edouard faced considerable corporate jealousy due to his new position. Edouard had to take many driving journeys to France, Germany, Spain, and other countries to keep full control over the reorganization and marketing activities. He had very little time to spend at home. When Muller was at home, had a massage at 7:00 AM and then reviewed mail in the quiet of his home because he would not have a quiet moment at work. Generally, his work day in Vevey started at 9:00 AM and continued to 7:00 PM. During travel, his days were usually even longer. Edouard lost his first wife, Jeanne Levillain from Paris, to sepsis in 1929. Edouard had married Jeanne, a blonde secretary in early 1910, when he was 25. They had three children: two sons who were grown and a young daughter.
Edouard married his second wife, Else Ellen Margery Hemmeler, in Zurich on October 7, 1930. In 1931 Edouard and Ellen took the boat-train from Paris to Le Havre and then left on the SS Paris for a six-day cruise. This was the first trip to the US for the couple. They stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Edouard had business at the Nestle offices on Lafayette Street. After the NYC stay, they traveled to Cuba via Key West on a train and then to Cuba by boat. On their return by train, they met a Cuban friend of Edouard's who shared with them his contraband alcohol in their Pullman car. It was during prohibition. They returned through Miami staying at the Pancoast Hotel. Then returned through New York where they were entertained by Hardenberg, a Nestle Manager in New York, and continued to Niagara Falls en route to Montreal. They returned to Europe, sailing from Quebec on the SS Empress of Australia to Liverpool.
Edouard took many trips in the Renault convertible from France to Spain. They went via Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Algeciras and Gibraltar. They were entertained by Nestle officials in each small factory location including Trais, a Nestle legal advisor, Pfersich in Santander, and Jaime de Semir, who became the Chairman of Nestle in Spain, in Sitges.
Hardenberg was succeeded as Nestle manager in New York by Daniel F. Norton, President of Nestle, succeeding Louis Dapples as Nestle President. In the spring of 1935, Edouard and Ellen returned to New York for their second trip via Genua aboard the Conte di Savoia in May. They stayed at the new Waldorf Astoria Hotel and then went to Cuba with the Dan Norton's. They toured the Nestle factory in Sancti Spiritu. They visited Veracruz and Mexico City by train and Teotihuacan and Chapultepec and a factory in Ocotlan. They went by train to Mazatlan and then sailed to Los Angeles. They returned to New York by train.
In the spring of 1936, Muller was in Madrid, Spain staying at the Ritz Hotel, experiencing the sentiments of the Spanish Civil War that broke out that year. Nestle had their Spanish headquarters in Barcelona. Those offices were taken over by the revolutionary workers’ committee. Edouard's good friend Jaime de Semir was a declared a loyalist and he was charged for crimes and condemned to death. He fled to the sanctuary of Edouard's home in La Tour de Peilz, Switzerland via protection of the French Consulate aboard a French battleship that left Barcelona from Marseille. The de Semir family returned to San Sebastien in 1937, an area that had not been taken over by the revolutionaries.
In 1937, Dapples died shortly after a trans-Atlantic trip to his home in Genua. Muller had secretly assured that a doctor discreetly accompany the Dappleses during the trip on the ship. That helped ease Dapples's pain but did not improve his condition. Edouard was elected chairman and chief executive officer of the Nestle-Anglo Swiss Condensed Milk Company in August 1937, the month of Dapples's death.