Royal Dutch's founding father, the man who created the business and sustained it against the odds, perhaps even against economic common sense. His absolute firmness of purpose had built solid foundations" before his untimely death from exhaustion in the effort to create the nascent company. Gerretson summed up: "It was Kessler's audacity, Kessler's faith, and Kessler's indomitable pertinacity in the hour of trial which brought the Company to where it stood when it lost him". Aftermath After his death, he was succeeded by a man he had hired as his deputy, Henri Deterding, in 1901. Deterding would later declare, "As a pioneer in oil, the part played by J.B. August Kessler stands second to none." August and his wife Margo had four sons and two daughters. One of their sons, Jean Baptiste August "Guus" Kessler Jr., eventually became director-general of Royal Dutch Shell after Deterding resigned in 1936; he also played tennis for the Netherlands in the 1906 Olympics in Athens. Their oldest son, Geldolph Adriaan Kessler, also worked for the Royal Dutch before he left to help form and run the Hoogovens, the Dutch steel company. Dolf Kessler and his brother Boelie Kessler played football for the Dutch national team. See also Telega Tunggal No 1 References and sources References Sources Shell Website - The History of Shell External links Biography in the Dutch Biographical Dictionary Photographs by Jean Baptiste August Kessler, 1895-1900, housed at the Nederlands Rijksmuseum Kessler family archives, with extensive letters and documents concerning Jean Baptiste August Kessler 1853 births 1900 deaths Dutch businesspeople People from Batavia, Dutch East Indies Shell plc people Chief Executive Officers of Shell plc Kessler family