Ferdinand Fransen

Ferdinand Gregorius Fransen (Enschede, 23 February 1928 – Borne, 11 July 2021) was a Dutch entrepreneur. He was director of the Dutch travel company Arke (later part of the German TUI AG). Fransen was also chairman of the football club FC Twente.

 Career 
Fransen came from a working-class family. His father was a house painter who died in 1938. Fransen played with the second division team VOSTA. He was captain of the first team. He later focused on athletics and became a champion javelin thrower. 

In 1944,  Fransen came to work at Travel Agency, Twenthe. In the 1950s, he started the Reis- en Passagebureau Arke together with Arke and Hennie Agterhuis. Arke retired in 1967 and Agterhuis died in 1973. Fransen became the sole director of the company. He developed the company from a bus travel company to a full tour operator. In 1989, he sold forty percent of his shares to the German Touristik Union International (TUI). In 1995, he sold them the rest of his shares. He owned many hotels in the Netherlands and Spain. These included Landgoed de Wilmersberg in De Lutte.

In addition to his business career, Fransen was chairman of the football club FC Twente from 1977 to 1984.  

 References 

Category:1928 births
Category:2021 deaths
Category:Dutch businesspeople