Marcel Louis Ospel (8 February 1950 – 26 April 2020) was a Swiss investment banker and executive, and the longtime CEO and chairman of UBS. With an estimated net worth of 150–200 million Swiss francs, he was among the wealthiest Swiss citizens.
Early life and education
Ospel was born 8 February 1950 in Basel, Switzerland, the oldest of three children, to Louis Ospel, a confectioner turned businessman, originally from Germany, and his wife Doris. He was raised in a modest household in Kleinbasel, the industrial and Rhine port area of town.
He dropped out of school and ultimately started a banking apprenticeship in 1965 at the local branch of French bank Transvalor. After gaining first work experience in Basel, Geneva and London, he studied economics at HWV Basel (currently FHNW), graduating with a diploma in 1977.
Career
Ospel joined the marketing and planning division of the Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) shortly after graduating.
Ospel stepped down as CEO in 2001 to become chairman of the board of directors, but retained tight operational control over UBS. In this role, he refused to continue financing the ailing national airline Swissair and was considered by many to share responsibility for its collapse in 2001. They had two children:
- Dominique Francette Ospel (born 1978), a businesswoman in the fashion industry.
- Philipp "Phil" Ospel(l) (born 1981), an actor and writer.
In 1995, Ospel married Andrée Cécile Koechlin, a daughter of Peter Koechlin and Muriel Koechlin (née von Wyttenbach), of the Swiss line of the Koechlin family who belonged to Basel's milieu of rich families, the Daig. Her mother belonged to Bernese patrician families. In 2002, they divorced before the birth of their son. They have two children:
- Donald Ospel (born 2002)
- Séverine Ospel (born 2003)
On 26 May 2006, aged 56, Ospel married Adriana Cornelia Bodmer (born 1976), a then 30-year-old economist. On 1 January 2009, she gave birth to twins:
- Rubina Ospel (born 2009)
- Benjamin "Benny" Ospel (born 2009)
Ospel was an avid deer hunter and owned a hunting estate in Austria. During the Carnival of Basel, Ospel usually played the Basel drum. He was a supporter and member of the right-wing Swiss People's Party.
Ospel died on 26 April 2020 aged 70 of cancer at his home in Wollerau.