America for the June 19 wedding of their oldest daughter. On July 16, they departed for South America to have a working vacation, as usual. They ported at Santa Paula, Curaçao and in Venezuela. They went on car trips to factories and met with location managers to get briefed on operations. Edouard weighed the idea of going to Australia to see operations there but recognized that he was too important an employee for the corporation to allow the three months of absence from the offices to do so. He would have to rely on reports from those factories and offices. Muller felt that air travel was too risky for him for the same reasons. In August 1948, Muller went to the west coast with the Dan Norton couple to see operations there. They were also scoping out the possibility of having US Nestle operations in the Midwest somewhere. They traveled on the 20th Century Railroad from New York to Chicago and then took the City of Portland train to Portland, Oregon. Then they traveled by train to Oakland and took the ferry to San Francisco. They visited the factory in San Jose. Then they went again by train with much luggage to Los Angeles and stayed at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for four days. The employees toured many places in the greater LA area. The Mullers left on August 16 for the Grand Canyon. In Colorado Springs, where they stayed at The Broadmoor resort, Edouard met with local officials to discuss the possibility of building Nestle US headquarters in their city. He and Dan Norton had visited several building sites and locations suitable for such a headquarters. Edouard felt unrest remained in both the Pacific and the Atlantic so he was seeking a place remote from the coasts as long-term planning for Nestle. The family returned by train through Denver to Chicago to New York to Stamford. Edouard complained of a headache on September 15, 1948. At 10:30 AM at work, he collapsed with a temperature of 104° and was nearly unconscious. Doctors felt it was a cerebral hemorrhage. He died of an abscess behind his left ear that developed into an infection of the brain on September 28, 1948. He was 63 years old. Management philosophy At Credit Leman, Muller witnessed a peasant wanting to borrow 5 francs to buy a scythe because he had nothing and needed to