Armand Peugeot

Armand Peugeot (18 February 1849 to 4 February 1915) was a French industrialist, pioneer of the automobile industry and the man who transformed Peugeot into a manufacturer of bicycles and, later, of automobiles. He was born at Herimoncourt in eastern France, the son of Emile Peugeot and grandson of Jean-Pierre Peugeot, and he graduated from the Ecole Centrale Paris. From 1865 he and his second cousin Eugene became involved with running the family company, then called Peugeot Freres Aines, which took up cycle manufacture in 1882. On 2 April 1896 he set up his own company, Societe Anonyme des Automobiles Peugeot, and he was accepted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1999.