Rob Heilbron

- Expert Profile and Services Overview

Which reader did not have an O'Neill school diary in the 1980 s ? The man behind that iconic surf brand: top sailor Rob Heilbron (78). Even Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his brothers wore O'Neill clothing at one point. The remarkable business and sporting (sailing) adventures of the special entrepreneur have recently been published in a book: Winning! Portrait of a special businessman. 'I always want to win, because I have already lost enough. Half my family was gassed during the war.”

For those who don't know the adventurous entrepreneur - with the incredibly big mouth - Rob Heilbron: he is a bit like Freddy Heineken, only Heilbron is less rich, less famous ('completely unjustified!') and he is not in the beer business. Heilbron brought the surf brand O'Neill to the Netherlands in the 1970s and that is why every Dutch student in the 1980s carried around an O'Neill school diary, because Heilbron is on par with Freddy in terms of clever marketing. And not in terms of adventures either. Heilbron sleeps with thousands of ('all different') women and is not secretive about it ('screw it, I'm never secretive about anything.') 

After O'Neill, Heilbron starts a new brand: Sapph. Lingerie and swimwear this time. He advertises it by having scantily clad models, including Olympic swimming champion Inge de Bruijn, pose on gigantic billboards along the highway with texts such as: 'Dress less to impress' and 'Let's get wet!' Heilbron is in between doing business can almost always be found on the beach or on the water. He reached the absolute top as a catamaran sailor. What Heineken and Heilbron also have in common is the endless urge to win and to profile themselves. If you enter a pub with Heilbron, half an hour later the entire pub is gathered around him. Heilbron was a welcome guest in the former Amsterdam cafe Lexington, where the upper and underworld met.