Simon (Salomon?) Porges (b. Colin, Czechoslovakia, ca 1830?) married Catherine Opper (b. Czechoslovakia).
                They lived in Vienna and had 5 children among which Fernand emigrated from Vienna to Paris in the late 1880's
                 where Fernand founded a medical device factory. Jules migrated later.
                 Almost all the Porgès living in France today are their descendants.

Simon (Salomon?) Porges & wife Catherine Opper (photograph by Strelisky in Budapest)

The Strelisky dynasty: Lipót, his brother Náthán and his son Sándor can pride itself on its unique history. They were among the first in Pest to start practicing photography, since the Lipót the goldsmith became engaged in photography, and the popular and sought- after studio was in the family’s possession for nearly a hundred years. Throughout they remained within the field of photography, providing a reliably high standard, their work was reliably and consistently demanding and of high quality. The Streliskys did not wish to convert from photographers into photo- artists, but every member of the dynasty was in possession of technical knowledge, the best methods, and they were brilliant masters of the photo making techniques. The Strelisky studio remained throughout with portrait photography: its pictures provide a wide panorama of Hungarian world of arts, the contemporary theatrical life, the aristocracy, bourgeoisie, thereby immortalizing their names in the history of Hungarian photography. (ETELKA L. BAJI: Streliskij. Strelisky. Hundred Years of a Photographer Dynasty. Magyar Fotogr. Muz., 2001. ISBN 9638383267.)

Fernand Porgès (b. 19/10/1863 Mediash Romania, d. 05/04/1944 Sarlat, buried in Paris)
           married Cécile Theumann (b. 23/02/1877 Vienna, d. 01/02/1947 France).

The parents of Cecile Theumann

Fernand Porges, his wife Cecile Theumann, & his sisters Mathilde and Berthe

 

           They had three children
           (To see their picture taken in Paris ca 1915, click here ).
           They are buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery (96th division, line 19)

  Lucien Porgès (b. 1899 Paris, d. 1993 Paris) married Jeanine Angel
            (b. 1911, d. Paris 2002)
            They are buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery (96th division, line 19)

  Dominique Porgès (b. 1935 Paris) Ophtalmologist

 Bénédicte Mugnier (b. 1970 Paris) M.D.

  Etienne Porgès (b. 1939 Granville), chemical engineer,
             married Michèle Pissardi

  Cassandre Porgès (b. 1977 Paris), lawyer in Paris

  Tristan Porgès (b. 1979 Paris)

  Marie-France Porgès (b. 1943 Domme). Dermatologist

  Frédéric Viet (b. 1969 Paris) Polytechnique (Paris),
           Ponts et Chaussées.
           Married. Children : Jules (b. Paris 2000). Antonin (b. 2003)

  Sébastien Viet (b. 1972 Paris) M.B.A. (European Business school)
            married Delphine Girbeau (sept. 2001).
            Children : Capucine (b. Paris 19/11/2002), Apolline (b. 2004)

  René Porgès (b. 1902 Paris, d. 1986 Paris)
            married Suzanne "Suzy" Aaron (b. Paris 23/08/1914, d. Paris 06/07/2003)
            Click here for Suzy Aaron Porgès ascendant family tree (15 generations) and photos

  Sylvie Porgès (b. 1941 Sarlat) married Robert Clauvel

Héloïse Clauvel (b. 1972 Paris) married Jérome Tricot.
           Daughter Joséphine (b. Paris 2000)

Lucille Clauvel (b. 1973 Paris)
           married Marcel Masson.

Tristan (b. Paris 1999) & Blanche (b. Paris 2002)

  Barbara Clauvel (b. 1979 Paris)
            Architect DPLG (2002)

Antoine Porgès (b. 1944 France), civil engineer, career in health care.
           married Nicole Benassayag (b. Oran 1948)

Camille Porgès Lanzenberg(b. 1977 Paris), lawyer in Paris
            École Sup. Commerce Paris, Law University Paris
           married Thomas Lanzenberg (18/10/2007, Paris)

Denis Porgès (b. 1946 Paris), Polytechnique (Paris), MBA (M.I.T.),
           married Véronique Ardant (b. 1950)

Laetitia Porgès (b. 1977 Paris) married 26/07/2003 Sylvain Fagot
           Two sons :
           Nicolas Fagot (b. Paris 23/04/2005), Antoine Fagot (b. Orléans 06/11/2007)
           To read her papers, click here

Marie Porgès (b. 1980 Paris) married 28/07/2006 Emmanuel Nantas

  Hélène Porgès (b. 02/12/1903 Paris, d. 23/02/1994 Paris) married Jacques Rasumny
           They are buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery (96th division)

  Janine Rasumny (b. 1926 Paris, d. Paris 06/05/2005)

  Jules Porgès (b. 1869 Mediash, d. 1940 Paris) married Gertrud Meyerstein (1880, Paris 1969)
            They are buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery (96th division, line 19)

Raoul Porgès (b. 1903 Paris, d. 1993 Paris), married, no children

Richard Porgès (b. 1907 Paris, d. 1960 Paris), married, no children

Jacqueline Porgès (b. 1911, Paris, d. 1955 Paris), no children
          She is buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery (96th division, line 19)

Alex Porges (Vienna) No family information

Mathilde Porges (Vienna). No family information
         (Operette singer in Vienna ; married several times ; last husband was a journalist in Germany)

Berthe Porges (Vienna) No family information
         (Studied architecture in Paris; married an Austrian officer and lived in Vienna.
          Daughter Heidi lived in Berlin)

Source : Antoine Porgès, (Paris, 2003)

Fernand Porgès

Fernand Porgès in 1898 (Paris)

Fernand Porgès emigrated from Austria to Paris in the late 1880's. He started working at Le Bon Marché, a parisian department store, then with a manufacturer of medical catheters in Périgord (South West of France) which he enventually took over to create his own company December 10, 1893. (see below : Porges Laboratories ). He married Cecile Theumann in Paris. She was the daughter of Jules Theumann, a Viennese emigrant who successfully owned the largest Viennese Deli in Paris.

Porgès Laboratories

Porges Laboratories were created in Sarlat (Dordogne, France) by Fernand Porgès on December 10, 1893.

The company manufactured medical catheters for urology and surgery.
The process consisted in weaving silk fibers to make tubings that were then dipped into gum, marked, punched and hand finished.

The company grew rapidly, mainly with export sales to eastern Europe. Jules Porgès, Fernand's younger brother, a sports journalist in Vienna, emigrated to France and joined the company. He later on obtained a 50% partnership, and acquired French citizenship in 1905. René and Lucien, the sons of Fernand, and Richard and Raoul, the sons of Jules, succeeded their fathers and managed the business very successfully. The company had offices in Paris (Bd Magenta) and two factories, in Sarlat and Les Lilas (Paris suburbs). During World War II, the company was seized and fictitiously taken over by two friendly families who ran the business and gave it back to the Porgèses at the end of the war.

After the war, René-Lucien-Raoul-Richard Porgès established their head-quarters in Paris (Quai Anatole France) and restarted the business from scratch. They introduced polymers (PVC), then a revolutionary innovation, in the manufacturing of catheters, in, replacement of silk/gum or natural rubber. The company became rapidly a world leader in its specialty. In the 1950's, the processing of latex was introduced for the manufacturing of balloon catheters, which became the company's main production. In the late 1960's, Etienne (son of Lucien), Antoine (son of René) joined the business. In 1974, a U.S. subsidiary was created in New York (54 W 54th Street) under the name Porges Catheter Corporation

In 1979, the Porgès family sold the company to Synthelabo (now Synthelabo-Sanofi), the pharmaceutical branch of L'Oreal.

It then employed 600 workers and shared the world market of medical catheters with C.R. Bard (U.S.A.) and Rusch (Germany).

To date, Laboratoires Porgès still exists under the same name, with manufacturing facilities in Sarlat and head-quarters in the Paris area.

In 2001, Synthelabo Sanofi sold Laboratoires Porgès to Mentor Corporation (USA).

In 2006, Mentor sold Laboratoires Porgès to Coloplast (Denmark).

To read more about Porgès Laboratories, click here.

To access the web site of the Porgès subsidiary in Czech Republic, click here.