Serge Dassault, patriarch of French aircraft empire, dies at 93

Serge Dassault, the billionaire businessman and politician who inherited an aviation empire from his World War I-aircraft designer father, has died. He was 93.

Mr. Dassault died in his office in Paris of heart failure, said a spokeswoman for Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault, the family’s holding, where he was honorary chairman.

One of two sons born to aviation legend Marcel Dassault and his wife, Madeline Minckes, Serge Dassault forged a name outside his father’s shadow as a fierce guardian of