Édith BESNARD was born in 1908. She was the youngest of three children. Her parents were artists (Robert, her father, was a sculptor, and her mother and grandfather were painters). She didn't know her father much, as he died fighting for France a few years later in 1914.
In 1925, she married Henri FILIPACCHI. Henri became the general secretary of Hachette and the creator/inventor of the Livre de Poche.
On January 12, 1928, Edith gave birth to Daniel. Daniel would become famous many years later by creating SLC Salut les Copains. He would also be the owner of Paris Match, among other things.
Holiday Clubs
In 1948, Édith joined forces with Dimitri PHILIPPOFF and Lionel MARCU to create the Olympic Games Club in Calvi on land she owned. The following year, this club was renamed the Olympic Club.
In 1950, she joined forces with Paul MORIHIEN and the LAZAREFF family to co-found the Magical Villages for readers of ELLE magazine.
Sacred good woman assisted by Lionel Marcu, the Olympic Club an
Institution and very good memories I worked there, the bay of Calvi is magnificent…
Have you met him?
Yes of course in 1980…
Yes, very nice, when I was working in 1978, we really got on well.
I worked at the club 1967- 1968- 1969
Naturally Mrs. Philipachi was very active within the Olympic club, as was Mr. Marcu
I have very good memories of the club and of Calvi
I saw Mrs. Philipachi again in 1974 and we exchanged some memories.
I spent part of my childhood with my parents working for them at the club, they were the club's caretakers, and I remember feeding a lot of cats... that too for Mrs. Filipacchi.
And I also knew Mr. Marcu.
The Olympic Club was my first employer in 1977, and I worked there for two summer seasons. Mr. Marcu was a wonderful person whom I greatly admired (I regretted not being able to meet him a few years later in Paris because our appointment was canceled; I would have loved to see him again to express my gratitude).
So many wonderful memories: volleyball matches every evening. Mr. Marcu swam every day.
He inspired me to pursue a career in the tourism industry (holiday clubs, hotels, etc.).
The Olympic Club exuded joy and happiness.
Mrs. FHILIPPACHI was driving around the Club in her green Méhari. What impressed me at the time was seeing her cats fly in to accompany her throughout the season.