Talk:Marcel Bich

buying of ballpoint patent

This article states (now) that he bought the patent from Biro in 1950; the Biro article states it was 1945. Someone please check [where?]... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.103.228.90 (talk) 13:17, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

father of Marcel Bich

the father of Marcel Bich was not a "french engineer", despite what the bbc article says, but a noble from Aosta Valley (Italy), therefore I corrected the sentence. Corrado — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.145.173.181 (talk) 12:17, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Edit Request

Hi, I work for BIC and have a conflict of interest that prevents me from editing this page myself. I would like to request some changes and additions to this page. I already requested some edits to Société_Bic. Can somebody help me with these?

• In the lede, can you add “lighters and razors” to the end of the last sentence?
• Can you make the following changes in the “Early Years” Section?
  • Can you add “He served in the French Air Force at the outset of World War II” to the end of the first paragraph? The source is
  • Can you rearrange the second sentence of the second paragraph to say “King Charles Albert of Sardinia granted Emmanuel Bich, mayor of Aosta, the title of baron in 1841.”? It is currently poorly written.
• Can you make the following changes to the “Business Success” section?
  • Can you update the first sentence to say In “1944, Marcel Bich and his partner, Édouard Buffard, bought an empty factory in the Paris suburb of Clichy, where they began the production of inexpensive pen holders and pencil cases.” This corrects the date from 1945 to 1944 and provides some more detail. Sources are
  • Can you remove this sentence, as it is not supported by a citation: “Using Bich's knowledge of the writing instrument trade, gained while working as a production manager for an ink maker, they began production of fountain pen parts and mechanical lead pencils”
  • After that paragraph, can you add: “Bich was originally a skeptic of ballpoint pens, which at the time were unreliable and leaked. In 1946, however, by observing the regular channel made by the wheel of his wheelbarrow in the ground, he understood the interest of the ballpoint pen. Just as the wheel makes transporting items easier, the ball can allow the hand to be free from the constraints of the pen nib, which scrapes the paper and makes writing more fluid.” .
  • In this sentence, “In 1953, Marcel Bich bought the patent for the ballpoint pen[3] for US $2 million from Hungarian László Bíró who had been producing such pens since 1943 in Argentina.” Can you remove “In 1953”? The source provided does not confirm this (and he created the pen in 1950, as sourced below)
  • After that sentence, can you add the following: “Using Swiss watchmaking tools, he devised a manufacturing process that produced stainless-steel balls for the tip of the pen https://www.leparisien.fr/economie/stylo-bic-ce-jetable-qui-semble-eternel-09-04-2021-A4LFSBDB3JDXBGP6CIQIXRJIFU.php], and the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became his first product in 1950”
  • The BIC Cristal ballpoint pen went on to become a worldwide best-seller , and the design remains mostly unchanged today .
  • Bich formed Société Bic in 1953 .
  • New paragraph: “Bich partnered with poster designer Raymond Savignac to create the company’s advertisements, who created the BIC Boy that later became part of the company’s official logo. BIC won the first French Oscar for advertising, sponsored the Tour de France, and became an essential item and a household name.” .
  • Between 1950 and the 1970s, BIC expanded globally, into Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Spain, followed by South America and North America .
  • In 1973, BIC introduced a disposable pocket lighter that could provide 3,000 lights before wearing out . In 1975, the brand released the one-piece polystyrene razor, the first single-piece disposable razor with an integrated blade and a lightweight plastic handle .
  • At the end of this section, please add: Bich stepped down as Chairman of Societe BIC in 1993 . He was succeeded by his son, Bruno, who served as Chairman for 25 years, 15 of which also as CEO. Marcel’s grandson Gonzalve Bich has been CEO since 2018.
• In the “Personal” Section, can you remove the list of the names of his children? They are not mentioned in the source provided, and the other sources used with them are not third party.
• At the end of the “Death” section, please add:
  • His first wife, Louise Chamussy, died in 1950. He was survived by his wife, Laurence Courier de Mere, 11 children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren .

Thanks in advance for your help. -Rmiller12 (talk) 10:20, 11 June 2021 (UTC)

Hi Rmiller12, most of this looks doable, I can work on these. I'll ping you when the edits have been implemented. Thanks! - Cmccarthy215 (talk) 21:01, 14 June 2021 (UTC)

Rmiller12, These edits have been made, with some slight copy edits to the sentence beginning "Bich was originally a skeptic..." - Cmccarthy215 (talk) 17:48, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

Dispute?

On 30 May 2022, HapHaxion added "disputed - discuss" tags to Bich's place and date of death. However, they added no explanation on the talk page, and as far as I can see have not attempted to discuss this anywhere else. The only source cited (the reliable Independent) confirms the details in our article, and I can find no source - reliable or unreliable - which disputes this. So, unless anyone objects or offers contrary information, I intend to remove these tags in a couple of days. 10:31, 5 June 2023 (UTC) RolandR (talk) 10:31, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

@RolandR: My apologies on the source issue. IDRef states place of death was Neuilly-sur-Seine, as well as Le Monde and this book (Ni apologie ni repentance: Une histoire singulière et plurielle). MatchID claims INSEE backs this up, although I have been unable to confirm it. HapHaxion _{(talk / contribs)} 14:46, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

Neuilly-su-Seine is Paris; as our article says, "It is the wealthiest and most expensive suburb of Paris". So I see no grounds for dispute, and will certainly remove the tag. RolandR (talk) 16:33, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

Birthplace (infobox)

@Graham11: It's fairly common in our biographies of Italians to differentiate between the Kingdom of Italy and the modern (post-WWII) political entity which is commonly referred to as "Italy" (e.g., Achille Castiglioni, Giuseppe Garibaldi—perhaps the most telling example, or Emma Strada). I'm not going to get too deep into this, but there are also many similar examples in articles about people from places like Albania (previously the People's Socialist Republic of Albania), ex-Yugoslavia (now fragmented in a number of smaller entities that are sorted by ethnicity, religion, and/or political leaning), what was once called Czechoslovakia, various no longer extant parts of Prussia or the Austro-Hungarian empire, etc. In the case of Bich, it seemed relevant to his biography (to some degree) that the place where he was born was in fact the Kingdom—not the post-war Republic. I suppose the logic in general is to be more precise and give readers more temporal context (editor's prerogative, of course). I'm personally not too fussed one way or the other, and I've also seen contradictory guidance on this in various place. Your call. Cheers, Cl3phact0 (talk) 07:07, 21 June 2026 (UTC)