30271: Hermantin(News)Famed Haitian brewer Michael Madsen dies at 65 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Wed, Mar. 28, 2007
HAITI

Famed Haitian brewer Michael Madsen dies at 65
One of Haiti's most prominent businessmen, Michael Madsen, died of a heart 
attack at 68.
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com

He was a visionary and entrepreneur whose devotion to Haiti led him to form his 
own political party and give the country one of its best-known commercial 
exports: Prestige beer.

Michael Madsen, the man who transformed countless of Haitians into beer 
drinkers, died Saturday of a heart attack while entertaining friends at his 
mountain home near Kenscoff, a suburb just outside of Haiti's capital 
Port-au-Prince. He was 65.

''Haiti was his life. Haiti was his blood. All he did was to make Haiti 
better,'' said Dorothy Chancy, longtime friend and marketing director for 
Brasserie Nationale d'Haiti, Madsen's company.

Though well-known in Haiti's small but elite business community, Madsen made 
international headlines in 2000 when Prestige bested 19 other beers to win the 
international Gold Medal at the World Beer Cup. Four years later, Madsen 
announced expansion to Miami, Turks and Caicos and Haiti.

Madsen's family emigrated to the Caribbean island from Denmark in 1896.

After attending school in France and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., 
Madsen returned to Haiti and in 1973 founded the brewery. As a wealthy 
industrialist, he was often attacked by critics for not adequately paying his 
workers.

But Seth Joseph, his Miami attorney and friend, said as one of the largest 
employers in Haiti, Madsen ``kept people on when they couldn't work, when they 
were unable to find other jobs. He was a sucker for a sad story.''

The other was his political involvement.

Madsen believed it was his duty to get involved and a few years ago formed the 
Haitian Liberal Party.

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