Samuel Van Der Bergh

Samuel Van der Bergh (6 April 1864, Oss- 4 February 1941, Nice) was the youngest son of margarine entrepreneurs Elizabeth and Simon Van den Bergh. He is widely credited as the Co Founder of Margarine Unie and Unilever, which were founded in 1927 and 1930 respectively.

Personal life

Born in Oss, The Netherlands, in 1864, Samuel was the youngest son of margarine entrepreneurs Elizabeth and Simon Van den Bergh. He attended school from the age of six and didn't continue his education after his college studies.

Samuel was described as being a cultured and impulsive man, and was “in many ways a man of time: he had an invincible belief in progress – progress of science and technology, and the improvement of social conditions, which this progress could bring. He felt that all men were equal and he was equally at home with all men….He had a childlike belief in good: he could not and would not believe in evil or misfortune.”

Career

Samuel’s role within Van den Bergh’s became more important after the First World War. “His most important contribution to the success of the firm was the way in which he built it up after the Great War. He brought an intelligent, well-trained brain into the Concern and was largely responsible for introducing trained chemists into the Concern, with resultant improvement in the quality of their margarine.”

After facing tough competition in the market from another margarine producer company in the Netherlands, owned by Antonius Johannes Jurgens, both decided to merge their companies together, creating the giant Margarine Unie in 1927.

Only three years after that, in 1930, William Lever, owner of Lever Brothers, had the idea of merging the two companies in order to create a bigger food products producing company. The idea resulted in the amalgamation of Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers, which has been known as Unilever to date.

References

- Charles Wilson: The history of Unilever. A study in economic growth and social change. 2 vols. London, Cassell & Company, 1954. Ed. Cassell 1970: ISBN 0-304-93605-7

- GB1752.UNI/GF/LG/1/4/53 (1925-1927). Legal Worldwide file: Credit Agreement (3) - Item

- Samuel van der Bergh

- "Samuel Van der Bergh" (Jan 20, 2014). Researchpedia.info. Retrieved 14 Oct 2020 [https://researchpedia.info/samuel-van-den-bergh-founder-of-unilever/]

Category:1864 births Category:1941 deaths Category:Margarine brands Category:Unilever brands Category:Unilever people Category:Unilever