Pierre Baruzy
Pierre Baruzy (Amiens, May 19, 1897 – Paris, December 17, 1994) was a French businessman and boxer.
Biography
Of Italian origin and descended from a Venetian noble family named Barozzi (Frenchified to Baruzy), he entered the French boxing academy at age 13, studied under Charles Charlemont, and was named French national champion eleven times.[1]
He competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics, the first time French boxing was included. In 1930 he became president of the French Boxing Academy, and in 1937 he won the last French Championship (until its revival in 1966), claiming titles in all weight classes. Between 1922 and 1935 he captured eleven national titles.[2]
During World War II he joined the Resistance and chaired the JP Workers’ Committee.[3] Under occupation, he was appointed city councilor of Paris in December 1941 by Interior Minister Pierre Pucheu, serving as council secretary.[4] He also served as chairman of Timken France’s Board and Chancellor of the International Academy CIOS.[5] As an industrialist, he was president of the ASTD Company and sat on the board of Meules Norton.[6]
Arrested in August 1944, he was awarded the Resistance Medal. He claimed contact with General Revers, head of the Army Resistance Organization in 1972, and membership in the Buckmaster network since 1942.[7] He asserted rescuing eleven Allied airmen shot down by the German Army. His resistance work earned him the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom from General Eisenhower in 1945,[8] and a second Presidential Medal from Ronald Reagan in 1984, making him the only French national to receive both.
From 1945 he was active in the French Olympic Committee, serving as its president from 1952 to 1957 after a term as secretary general.[9] He revitalized postwar boxing and in 1965 became founding president of the French National Boxing Committee, replaced in 1975 by the French Savate Boxing Federation.[10]
Pierre Baruzy received numerous civil and military honors throughout his career.[11]
Honors
- 45px Presidential Medal of Freedom (1945)
- 45px Resistance Medal (1984)
References
- ↑ Gauvin, Georges; Brécher, François Dominique (1991). Comte Baruzy: "la mémoire du vieux lion"
- ↑ L'Humanité, ed. (1993). Le comte Baruzy, un siècle de boxe française.
- ↑ Rocca, Daniele (2004). France 1919-1939: un viaggio nell'estrema destra
- ↑ Bulletin municipal officiel de la Ville de Paris, December 22, 1941; Philippe Nivet, op. cit., p. 88
- ↑ Travail et méthodes (in French) . Entreprises et Techniques. 1968 . Retrieved June 11, 2021 .
- ↑ Journal of the American Society of Training Directors . The Society. 1959. Retrieved June 11, 2021 .
- ↑ Philippe Nivet, op. cit., p. 88
- ↑ L'Humanité , Jean-Emmanuel Ducoin, "Le comte Baruzy, un siècle de boxe française", December 20, 1993
- ↑ Mechanical Engineering . The Society. 1963. Retrieved June 11, 2021 .
- ↑ Savate: la Boxe Francese, 1999 . 1999.
- ↑ Editions du Mémorial, ed. (1970). Edmond de Salses, Livre d'Or des Valeurs Humaines .