Jean-Louis Robert Frédéric Dumas (2 February 1938 – 1 May 2010) was a French billionaire businessman who was the chairman of the Hermès group from 1978 to 2006. He was also the company's artistic director.^[1] Dumas is credited with turning Hermès into a global luxury brand during his tenure as chairman.^[1]

Jean-Louis Robert Frédéric Dumas was born in Paris, France, on 2 February 1938. He also used the last name Dumas-Hermès. His father was Robert Dumas, and his mother was one of Émile-Maurice Hermès' four daughters. Dumas' grandfather Émile-Maurice Hermès had been a grandson of the company founder Thierry Hermès.^[2] Dumas attended the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, also dubbed Sciences Po.^[2] He also traveled in Iran, Afghanistan, and Nepal in a Citroën 2CV.^[3] After travelling in Scandinavia and Czechoslovakia while the drummer of a jazz ensemble, Dumas was sent to Algeria to perform his compulsory military service.^[2]

In 1963, Dumas entered Bloomingdale's buyer-trainer program in New York.^[2] In 1964, he joined Hermès,^[2] which his family had founded in 1837.^[1] Dumas later became CEO of the Hermès Group^[2] and served as the company's artistic director.^[1] His father died in 1978, and Dumas became chairman.^[2] Expanding into the United States and Asia,^[2] he turned Hermès into a global brand after taking in the chairmanship, adding interests in fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier and the Leica camera maker to the company.^[1]

In the 1980s Gaultier was working on fashion design in Paris, with Belgian designer Martin Margiela working as his design assistant from 1984 to 1987.^[4] He took the company public in 1993, with around 3/4 of the company remaining family-owned.^[2] Jean Louis-Dumas retired as the chairman and artistic director of Hermès in January 2006 due to declining health.^[1] He was replaced in the position by his son Pierre-Alexis Dumas.^{[citation needed]}

His wife Rena Dumas (née Gregoriadès) (1937–2009) was a Greek-born architect who founded Rena Dumas Architecture Intérieure in 1972 in Paris.^[5][6] They married in 1962.^[2] Pierre-Alexis Dumas is their son,^[2] while their daughter Sandrine is a film actress.^[2]

Jean-Louis Dumas died in Paris on 1 May 2010, at the age of 72.^[1] He took photographs throughout his life, and in 2008, Steidl published Jean-Louis Dumas: Photographer, a collection of his photographs.^[2]