A look back at the private celebration in the Knights’ Hall at Rapperswil Castle in Switzerland and the official festivities at MEPHISTO’s headquarters in Sarrebourg, France.

July 4, 2026

Private Celebration at Rapperswil Castle, Switzerland

Speech by Martin Michaeli on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday July 4, 2026 – Rapperswil Castle, Knights’ Hall

Dear friends,
You are all my friends – otherwise you wouldn’t be here today. I actually have many more friends, but unfortunately I couldn’t invite everyone… because not all of them made it to be 90 years old!

First of all, I have to thank God. He has been very good to me. He gave me a wonderful family.
With my dear wife Andrea and her daughter Zahra, my daughter Stephanie and David, my son Marc and Nathalie, and my 6 grandchildren, I feel truly blessed.
My dear Andrea comes from a big Bavarian family, and from the very beginning they welcomed me with open arms. I always feel at home with them.
I’m also very lucky to have such a wonderful mother-in-law, Edith. She is 3 years older than I am, and we get along perfectly. Sadly, she couldn’t make the long journey today because it would have been too exhausting for her. I completely understand that. And some other family members couldn’t be here either – my house isn’t simply big enough!
Interestingly, my wife isn’t the first Bavarian woman in my family. My father’s mother, my grandmother “Rosa”, also came from Bavaria. She fell in love with my grandfather Valentin, who was from the Saarland, and she followed him there.
Many years later, history repeated itself.
The Bavarian Andrea fell in love with Martin – a German-American Frenchman – and moved with him to Switzerland.
The world is really a small place.
Now let me tell you a little about my life.
I think all of you know parts of my story, but nobody knows the whole story.
I was a child during the war. I was 10 years old when the Second World War ended.
As a young man, I trained in shoe factories in the Dordogne near Bordeaux, in Italy, and in Germany. Those internships allowed me to enter the Shoe School in Pirmasens when I was only 19 instead of waiting until I was 21.
There I graduated as a shoe engineer.
But my biggest dream was America. I wanted to go there and show Americans how shoes should be made. That dream became stronger every day, and at the age of 21 I packed my suitcase and left.
I had no relatives, no friends, almost no money, and I spoke very little English. But I was determined.
With the suitcase you can see over there, I crossed the Atlantic. I shared a small cabin with eight complete strangers for ten days and ten nights on a ship from Europe to New York.
And no… it wasn’t first class!
At the Empire State Building, where many shoe and textile companies had offices, I met an Austrian shoe manufacturer named “Mr. Passweg”. He had fled Austria at the beginning of the war because he was Jewish.
I travelled one night with one of his pattern makers to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where one of his factories was located. The very next morning I started work as a leather cutter.
Of course I quickly learned English, and soon I applied for jobs as a shoe designer in different factories. Over the years I worked my way up from a simple factory worker to production manager.
I settled in quickly, made good friends, loved my life there, and honestly didn’t want to leave.
I had a student visa, which also meant I didn’t have to join the military.
But after several years, immigration officials became suspicious.
They asked me, “How can a student earn so much money?”
I simply answered: “Because I learn something every day.”
Nice answer… but it didn’t help. I had to return to Europe. At the same time, I was also ready to come home because I had another dream: to build my own company.
Fortunately, I had managed to save enough dollars to make that possible.
So I founded my business in Alsace, France. I worked day and night. One day, it became the largest shoe factory in France, exporting 85% of its production to nearly 80 countries around the world.
In 1995, the French President François Mitterrand awarded me the “National Order of Merit”.
In 2000, the President Jacques Chirac presented me with France’s highest distinction, the “Legion of Honour”.
In 1999, among 11,000 business owners in France, I was named Entrepreneur of the Year. To celebrate that honour, a gala with 400 invited guests was held for me in Paris at the “Musée des Arts Forains”.
I could tell you many more stories, but that’s what the book is for.
I have written my biography in German and French. The title is
“Where My Shoes Took Me.”
And for the 50th anniversary of Mephisto, I also wrote a book about the company’s history in German, French, and English.
Before I finish talking about America, I want to mention one special friend.
In the last company where I worked as production manager, one of the owners was Milton Lown, who became a close friend.
When I celebrated my 80th birthday, he was already 90 years old. He invited himself to my party and travelled all the way here with his son David, who is a doctor.
During the celebration, he sang two solos just for me:
“My Way” and “Ave Maria.”
He had a professionally trained voice and came from a highly respected family.
His brother even received the Nobel Prize for his work in heart surgery together with a Russian doctor.
I have his biography at home.
I mention this because it explains why leaving America was not easy for me. I had wonderful friends there, and America had become my “home”.
When I returned to Europe, I spoke German and French with a strong American accent.
The road to success was never easy. I worked day and night to get where I am today.
And I can tell you the most important thing in life is to wear the right shoes if you want to reach your destination.
All my life I have passionately made sure that other people could walk comfortably.
Now, at 90 years old, I’m simply happy if I can still walk comfortably myself….
Maybe I’m not as fast as I used to be… But I have a remarkable endurance… And, of course, I still have the very best shoes.
One thing I have learned over all these years:
Sooner or later, every shoe pinches somewhere.
Sometimes at the front. Sometimes at the back. And sometimes you don’t even know exactly where or why.
But at the end there is only one answer:
Break them in, keep going… and “everything will be fine”.
That has become my motto in life.
When I look around today…
…I see so many wonderful friends.
Some of you I have known for decades. With many of you, I have shared unforgettable moments, plenty of laughter, and some truly crazy parties.
Some of my colleagues are here as well.
Working together over all those years, facing challenges and building projects side by side, has enriched both my career and my life.
You have become friends, and part of the family.
Thank you all again for being here today. Many of you have travelled a long way to celebrate with us, and that means a great deal to me.
Let’s continue to create wonderful memories together and support one another, because that is what makes life worth living.
But today you have one important job:
Dance, sing, and celebrate!
That is my greatest joy today and the best gift you can give me.
So let’s enjoy ourselves!
And before anything else, let’s raise our glasses to the next ten years…To my 100th birthday.
I’ll be there. And I hope every one of you will be there too!
Cheers! Prost! Santé! L’chaim! Salute !

Official celebration at MEPHISTO’s headquarters in Sarrebourg, France, on July 23, 2026

A Message from His Children

You all think that our father has only recently started having trouble hearing, but that’s not true. He has never listened to anyone when they told him no. He has always heard yes. And that is probably why he succeeded: he has always believed in himself.

Dad, if you have built such a remarkable career, it is not only thanks to your hard work, but also thanks to your unique talent for hearing only what suited you. When people told you, “It’s impossible,” you heard, “Go for it.” When they told you, “Be careful,” you heard, “Go ahead.” And in the end, you were right: you created, led, built and kept moving forward… always with that determination that commands respect.

You went through your professional life just as you go through life today: with determination, humour and a healthy dose of selective hearing. And it is precisely this way of doing things that allowed you to succeed, to make your mark and to become the man we are celebrating today.

At 90, you are still standing strong, still proud, still ready to share your opinion… even if you don’t hear ours. And that is perfectly fine. Because your success is proof that believing in yourself — and sometimes listening only to yourself — can take you a very long way.

Dad, congratulations on everything you have accomplished. And above all, happy birthday.

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