Pierre Godé

Lawyer at heart of world's largest luxury goods group

Pierre Godé, a French lawyer whose steely negotiation skills and strategic vision made him the éminence grise of the world’s largest luxury group, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has died in Nice, France. He was 73.

Polished, charming and deliberately low profile, Godé was for 30 years rarely far from the side of Bernard Arnault, LVMH’S chairman and chief executive. The two men set about building a brand portfolio that today includes more than 70 fashion houses, among them Lou- is Vuitton, Christian Dior and Bulgari. Godé and Arnault met in 1973, when Godé was the youngest qualified law professor in France and a lawyer to Arnault’s father, Jean, the head of a property company. “I was struck by his talent from our first meeting,” Bernard Arnault, France’s richest man, said in 2000. “He is my closest colleague as well as a confidant and friend without equal.”

As LVMH entered the digital age, Godé masterminded an aggressively protectionist strategy, suing Google and ebay for not doing enough to stop the sale of counterfeit goods.

In 2013 Godé became deputy chairman of LVMH’S Italian operations.

He is survived by his wife and three children. © New York Times 2018