E. G. van de Stadt

Ericus (Ricus) Gerhardus van de Stadt (1910–1999) was a Dutch yacht designer. He was the founder of industrial yacht building in the Netherlands.[1][2]

E.G. van de Stadt went through the HTS (technical college) and started a shipyard in Zaandam and a ships wharf and design company for small wooden boats. In 1936, he went to the Olympic Games as a reserve for the Olympia-boat in 1936.

In 1939, van de Stadt designed the Valk for the Bruynzeel company to demonstrate the possibilities of their new product "hechthout" (a type of plywood). The Valk has been a resounding success over many years. Adding the later polyester versions ("Polyvalk"), this boat is now probably the most popular open sailboat on the Dutch waters.

Ricus van de Stadt later designed a seaworthy race version of the Valk for Kees Bruynzeel, the Zeevalk. In 1952 this boat would win the Fastnet race.

In 1958, followed the Pioneer, a 9-metre-long sailboat with the then relative new material polyester. The design was a great success. The light boat won many international matches.

The first maxi yacht came from Ricus van de Stadt's drawing board. The 70-foot ocean racer Stormvogel emerged in 1960.

A few other boats that Ricus van de Stadt designed are the Efsix, Stern, Spanker, Randmeer and Wibo. Key to the designs of Van de Stadt are their daring design, simplicity and good sailing.

From 1973, the Van de Stadt company fully concentrated on design after it sold the yard to Dehler. The name was changed to EG van de Stadt & Partner. Ricus would continue working there until 1978. The design team now works using the name Van De Stadt Design,[3] and is still led by Cees van Tongeren who started working for Ricus in the late 1960s.

The Family:

The Van Der Stadt family is a Dutch industrial, investment, political family that has made most of its wealth from being a shareholder in the Dutch oil company known as Royal Dutch Shell after most of the family members have had senior key positions in the company dating as far back as 1939. During the late 19th and early 20th century E.G. van de Stadt along with his son E.E. Van Der Stadt invested most of their family wealth into Royal Dutch Shell which then saw the family's finances rocket earning them a seat as a major shareholder for a number of years. The family is also known for its long association with British Petroleum and Du Beers. They have been considered to be at one point one of the most powerful families in The Netherlands influencing major political figures for example J.W Van Der Hoeven being the Private Secretary to Juliana of the Netherlands and influencing major political and business interests.

International Politics and Economics:

Members of the Van Der Stadt family into the third and fourth generation (especially the prominent senior officer of Royal Dutch Shell W. Van Der Stadt) have been heavily involved in international politics, and have donated money to a variety of worldwide causes to help fight deadly diseases and to help international economies grow.

Family Wealth:

The combined wealth of the family - their total assets and investments plus the individual wealth of its members has never been known with any precision. The records of the current and past family members net worth is closed to the public.

From the outset, and even today, the family wealth has been under complete control of the male members of the dynasty, through the family office. Despite strong-willed wives who had influence over their husbands decisions - such as female figure V.K. Van Der Stadt, wife of E.G. van de Stadt - in all cases they were given allowances only but were never given a role in business decisions because the males feared that they would not invest the family wealth as wisely as they would themselves.

The wealth is predominately managed by family trusts that as the older members die off the public identification of wealth owned by an individual family member is reduced by wealth management being guided by a trust committee and team of professional management specialists that guide the family--Van Der Stadt Investments. The assets of the trusts consist of various forms of wealth: shares in companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, General Electric Company plc, GazProm, Allianz, Daimler Company and LukOil and other diversified investments, family real estate holdings. Their investments are administered by a trust committee which consist of the heads of each of the family branches and outside-the-family employees (accountant and bank manager). The senior officer is J.W. Van Der Stadt.

The family invested a considerable amount of their wealth in the New York Stock Exchange. This form of wealth has had some controversy. A considerable amount of this investment was sold in 1927 by N.A Van Der Stadt. Despite the loss of many other similarly situated wealthy U.S. families, there is some speculation that the family had a heads up of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The family has had a close economic relationship with the Israeli Government. In 2006, E.A Van Der Stadt said, "I, on behalf of my family, deny all claims of supporting the Israeli Government against their battle to Palestine. We have fundamental principles as a family and encouraging war to civilians is not one of them. I am utterly disgraced we have had these accusations put against us and we will work to rectify this horrible situation. That's all for now, Thank you." This is because when J.A. Van Der Stadt was family patriarch he frequently visited Israel and Palestine and has been friendly with most Israeli Prime Ministers most notably Benjamin Netanyahu.

The family also has an enormous interest in the Royal Dutch Shell company which had or does employ many of the families members. They have also said to have been involved in conflicts with other countries so that the business could obtain enough oil and money to help it survive tough economic times. Most notably countries in the Middle East. Some people have even suggested because the family has held two key positions in the business for a number of years that they are able fix the price of oil for their own financial gain and to benefit nobody but themselves. This was addressed by a family spokesman who said, "The Van Der Stadt family deny all accusations of engaging in conflicts between two nations in the Middle East and they also deny all accusations for fixing oil prices for their own financial gain and this would be truly impossible because the oil price is not set by themselves. They also said that the family has held two positions in the business for a number of years. It's tradition for when the eldest boy of the families current patriarch reaches 30 he will then assume the post. The post's have never been given to anyone but their family so to say they fix prices to benefit themselves is absurd". This is because the family has held two positions. One which gives them a seat on the Board of Directors and a seat as a Senior Chief Executive Officer.

Even though many accusations have been made none have ever been proven to be true even to the present day. Also in the early 1920s to 1943 the Van Der Stadt family along with the Astor Family brought many pieces of real estate in Manhattan, New York these two families were known as the landlord of New York owning most of the island between them. However, in 1943 the U.S. government requested that they purchase the real estate from both prominent families. Both famalies sold the real estate for a sum of money that has never been announced but many people have speculated the amount over the years. This earned both famalies great status is economies and governments around the world. Ranking them as being two of the most powerful famalies that have ever existed. However today both famalies own land in the US but none of them own any real estate in Manhattan, New York but they have both got real estate mostly in the United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Sweden, Monaco and Finland.

In 1970-1990 the families investment had three main arms:

Out of the families original three main arms only two are still operating today.

Family Residences and Origins:

Over the generations the family members have resided in various countries such as The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Russia, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Monaco. Most of the countries listed were the original origins of most of the families members.

The majority of the families members are able to speak a variety of languages mainly English, German, Spanish and Russian.

Family Patriarchs and Ancestors:

Each family patriarch has been succeeded by another male who was a head of a family branch. Traditionally a new patriarch is appointed when the current patriarch passes away or if they resign from their family role. This opportunity is then passed to the original members eldest male family member unless they object otherwise. The role cannot be given or transferred to a female member so a male member must be chosen by the other family members. However, not a single male member has objected and only E.A. Van Der Stadt has resigned from the family role.

Sources

Autobiography (Dutch)

References

  1. ↑ Articles from "de Waterkampioen"
  2. ↑ Boats for the common man
  3. ↑ Van De Stadt Design website Retrieved 2010-01-18.

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