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General First nameJean Baptiste August (Guus)
LastnameKessler
GenderMale
CountryNetherlands
Date of birth1888-06-16
Place of birthDen Haag, Netherlands
Date of death1972-11-05
Place of deathDen Haag, Netherlands


About

Kessler was a son of Jean Baptiste August Kessler, one of the founders of the Koninklijke Maatschappij for the exploitation of Petroleum resources in the Dutch East Indies (K.N.M.E.P., which later became Koninklijke Olie) which was responsible for the growth of the company after the discovery of oil on Sumatra. . His brothers were the football players Boelie Kessler and Dolph Kessler (co-founder of Koninklijke Hoogovens and president-director from 1924 to 1945). His eldest sister, An Kessler, married the physicist and educator Prof. Philip Kohnstamm.

After the HBS he studied electrical engineering at the Delft University of Technology where he was a member of the Delftsch Studenten Corps. He played tennis with Leimonias and took part in the 1906 Olympics (later called intermediate games) and lost his first match in the semifinals to the later Olympic champion Max Décugis.

In 1911 he joined the Batavian Petroleum Company and then worked for Astra in Romania and in the Soviet Union, among other places. In 1923 he became director of Koninklijke Olie and president from 1947 to 1949; in the latter position he was succeeded by mr. Barthold Theodoor Willem van Hasselt (1896-1960). From 1949 to 1961, Kessler was chairman of the board.

Media


Archive statistics Career1904 - 1910
Tournament wins0
Matches14
Match wins6


Tournaments Netherlands National Championship - 1910 Olympics, Olympic Games - 1906 European Championship - 1905 Homburg Cup - 1905 Netherlands National Championship - 1905 Netherlands International Championships - 1904 Den Haag - 1904 Netherlands National Championship - 1904