ARMAND ESDERS

At the head of a textile company that he took over and developed following his father, Armand Esders was a visionary industrialist. In 1929, seduced by Deauville, he bought a Villa where he received the Deauvillais personalities of the time, including André Citroën and Henri Farman.
These friendships were in line with his three passions: automobiles, yachting and aviation. The Deauville of the 1930s allowed him to fully indulge these passions. Armand Esders allocated part of his personal fortune to support the development of Deauville and to enhance the well-being and leisure activities of the people of Deauville. He was the driving force behind the Deauville Yacht Club, the initiator of the 1936 Deauville Automobile Grand Prix (which only took place once), and a donor for the construction of workers' housing. In 1929, alongside Eugène Colas, the Mayor of the time, he initiated the construction of the Saint Gatien airport. He participated financially in the purchase of the land, in the construction and in the creation of meetings and events. Eight decades after its creation Deauville Normandy Airport and has become an airport at the service of all Normans.

Because he had a taste for public affairs and was one of the builders of Deauville, Deauville gave his name to the street that leads from the Avenue de la République to the Eglise Saint- Augustin.
His name has also been inscribed since the 1930s on the upper part of the nave of the Saint Augustin Church, whose renovation and enlargement he partly financed between 1929 and 1931.
From 1935 to 1940, during Robert Fossorier's first term of office, Armand Esders was a Deauville city councilor.