皮埃尔-理查德-迪克：富有创造性的推动者
Pierre-Richard Dick: the creative impulse

自1937年出生于阿尔萨斯，之后于1992年消失在茫茫大海，皮埃尔-理查德迪克，一个建筑材料承包商的独生子，有一段不同寻常的人生。

如钢铁般的意志

皮埃尔-理查德-迪克非凡的意志力源自充满艰辛的童年。1940年，他的父亲在第二次世界大战期间去世，导致他在三岁时就成为了孤儿并因前额受伤待在州立病房中。同年，他的母亲被迫向在阿尔萨斯的德国军队投降。她独自抚养她的儿子，他们首先去了第戎，随后又去了非洲。在皮埃尔11岁的时候，他的脚踝在希默克的家庭锯木厂里被一辆伐木车压断。 九个月之后，他再次从这又一次严重的打击中恢复。他甚至在10年后的斯帕希的军事服役期间，徒步穿越了毛里塔尼亚沙漠1000英里的路程。正是在这些逆境中，皮埃尔-理查德-迪克建立了他的基础价值观，这成为了他一生的信条。

From his birth in Alsace in 1937, the only son of a small construction materials contractor, to his premature disappearance at sea in 1992, Pierre-Richard Dick would meet an atypical fate.

A character of hardened steel

Pierre-Richard Dick’s extraordinary strength of character was rooted in a childhood replete with hardships. In 1940, the loss of his father following injuries to the forehead during World War II left him orphaned and a ward of the State at just three years of age. That same year, his mother is forced to surrender the family home to German troops in Saverne, Alsace. She would raise her son alone, first in Dijon, then in Africa. At 11 years old, in the family sawmill in Schirmeck, Pierre-Richard Dick’s ankle is crushed by a logging truck. Another severe blow from which he would once again recover, after nine months of forced immobilization. Even going so far as to travel a thousand miles on foot across the Mauritanian Desert a decade later, during his military service with the Spahis! It was in the face of adversity that Pierre-Richard Dick built a foundation of values that would form a creed for his entire life.

After his veterinarian studies,the young doctor Pierre-Richard Dick completes his training by taking a course in microbiology at the Pasteur Institute.There, he takes a keen interest in biology and gains the knowledge that would later allow him to develop our first vaccines.

 

企业家和建设者

1961年，刚刚毕业于阿尔福特的年轻兽医师皮埃尔-理查德-迪克决定在巴斯德研究所微生物学学科继续深造。在那里学得的知识将引导他研发出维克的第一款疫苗。在26岁时，他加入了朗切塞，尼斯成立时间最长的生物实验室。皮埃尔-理查德-迪克的卓越工作使他很快晋升成为研究主管。在一个非常专业的实验室里，迪克博士本可以成就辉煌的事业，但他的野心与一般人不同。这位年轻人内心深处是个创业家，他有一个梦想: 建立自己的实验室，研发新药，以治疗当时几乎无法治愈或得不到有效治疗的动物疾病。

 

1967年秋天，他离开了在朗彻斯舒适的职位并建立了一个研究实验室，他将其命名为维克Virbac（结合了“病毒学”和“细菌学”的首字母）。与此同时，他在Cap 3000购物中心开了法国第一家兽医诊所。在接下来的两年里，他将行医的收入用于第一批原材料的采购和第一批药物的研发。1970年，他卖掉了诊所，把100%的时间投入到维克身上。

 

Entrepreneur and builder

In 1961, fresh out of the Maisons-Alfort school, the young veterinary doctor Pierre-Richard Dick decided to take his training further by taking a course in microbiology at the Pasteur Institute. There he acquires the knowledge that will guide him on the path to our first vaccines. At 26 years old, he joins Ronchèse, the oldest biology laboratory in Nice. His diligence quickly earns him a promotion as research director. A brilliant career opens up for him at a laboratory with undisputed professionalism. But Dr. Dick’s ambitions are entirely different. An entrepreneur at heart, the young man sees further: what he dreamed of basically was to create his own laboratory and discover new medicines to combat animal diseases that were at the time hardly or poorly treated.

 

In the fall of 1967, he leaves the comfort of his position at Ronchèse to set up a research laboratory which he names Virbac (using the first letters of “virology” and “bacteriology”). In parallel, he opens a veterinarian clinic in the Cap 3000 shopping center, a first in France! For two years, he will use the income from his practice to finance the first purchase of raw materials and development of the first medicines. In 1970, he sells the clinic to devote 100% of his time to Virbac.

 

报负与直觉: 一个绝佳的组合

1968年1月，谁能相信这个在尼斯一间三室小公寓里建立起来的不起眼的实验室会成为动物健康领域的世界领导者？

当皮埃尔-理查德-迪克还在为当地的兽医师供应抗生素粉末时，这位年轻人是否已对此有所预期？无论如何，他的战略选择从一开始就是富有远见的。从1969年开始，即使经济动物的健康问题是市场的主要焦点，维克在那个时期已领先于其他实验室开始专注于改善伴侣动物的健康问题。在首席执行官的督促下，实验室从一开始就放眼于国际市场。而第三个奠定了维克成功的关键，是当他开始领会创新应当源于兽医的实际需要，远不止他所熟知的基础研究理论。这是奠定企业长远成功的基础。维克团队不懈地实践这条道路，也培养了企业特有的价值观并渴望利用创新来解决动物健康问题。

皮埃尔-理查德·迪克过去是，将来也永远是一个工作狂。他睡得很少，每晚三到四个小时。并表现出永不满足的好奇心。他从未停止阅读、研究、旅行，并经常与人会面，把他所有的观察和想法都记录在他随身携带的小笔记本上。有多少次，他的员工在他们的办公桌上发现了他的一页笔记本或一篇发表在其他地区的科学文章，并建议他深入研究这个主题！对于兽医来说，知识和好奇心是创新的根源，大胆和冒险是成功的基础。这些是维克精神的基本要点，也是我们团队的继续坚持。

自1992年以来，他的小女儿玛丽-海姆斯特伦，同样作为一名兽医，从巴斯德开始了她的职业生涯，她接过了家族的火炬，确保维克的冒险继续下去。

Ambition and intuition: an explosive mix

Who could believe, in January 1968, that the modest laboratory created in a small three-room apartment in Nice would become a world leader in animal health?

When preparing antibiotic powders for local veterinarians, did young Pierre-Richard Dick have a hunch of the path he is going to take? His strategic choices were visionary from the start, in any case. As early as 1969, he intended, well before other laboratories, to help provide better care for companion animals, even when the food producing animals market was still a dominant market. At the urging of its CEO, the laboratory set its sights internationally at an early stage. Third inspired choice: that of innovation driven by the tangible needs of veterinarians, far from the rationale of basic research that he had known up until then. The foundation for long-term success had been laid. A solid foundation on which our teams tirelessly capitalize to sustain a company steeped in human values, with a desire to harness innovation in order to address animal health issues.

Pierre-Richard Dick was and would forever remain a workaholic. He slept very little: three to four hours a night. And demonstrated an insatiable curiosity. He never stopped reading, researching, travelling, and meeting frequently with people, documenting all his observations and ideas in the small notebook that he always had on him. How many times would his employees find a page of his notebook or a scientific article published in other regions on their desk, with a suggestion from him to delve into the subject! For the veterinary doctor, knowledge and curiosity, which are at the root of innovation, as well as audacity and risk-taking, are the foundation of the greatest collective successes. These are the cardinal points of the Virbac spirit that our teams continue to espouse today.
 

Since 1992, his youngest daughter Marie-Hélène, also a veterinary surgeon who began her career with Pasteur, has taken up the family torch to ensure that the Virbac adventure continues.