Philips 2005 Annual Report Download - page 58

Philips Annual Report 200558
Frits Philips – a life of service
Philipslostoneofthemostprominentandinuentialguresinitshistorywiththepassing-awayof
former President Frits Philips on December 5, 2005.
Frederik Jacques Philips was born in Eindhoven, Netherlands,
on April 16, 1905. His father, Anton, and uncle Gerard had
founded a light-bulb factory there in 1891. Frits, as he
preferredtobecalled,joinedthefamilyrmasanindustrial
engineer, in 1930, shortly after completing a degree in
mechanical engineering at Delft Technical University.
The1930sinuencedFritsPhilipsgreatly.TheGreat
Depression of the early to mid-1930s, for example, left him
“determined that in the rest of my industrial life I would
do everything within my power to avoid a recurrence of
that kind of misery”. This was reinforced after Frits Philips
and his wife, Sylvia, met Frank Buchman. The message of
Buchman’s spiritual movement – listen to God, live an
honest,pureandselesslifeandexercisecharity–
changed the couple’s lives.
His life took another dramatic turn when, in May 1940,
Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. Frits Philips felt
that he had a duty to stay behind to try to protect the
company’s 19,000 Dutch workers and prevent the company
from inadvertently contributing to the German war effort.
Like father, like son. Anton Philips was
the young Frits’s example. He was to
remember him as “a great man and a
great father”.
Following his period in hiding, Frits
Philips returns after a lengthy absence
to the Philips complex in Eindhoven by
bike, to a warm welcome. It is 9 a.m.
on September 21, 1944.
Meeting with workers engaged in
building their own homes in the winter
of 1945-46.