Founder Profile
Anton Jurgens
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Anton Jurgens?
Anton Jurgens is a founder of Unilever PLC, which was founded in 1929 with William Hesketh Lever and Samuel van den Bergh.
- Company founded
- Unilever PLC
- Founded
- 1929
- Co-founders
- William Hesketh Lever and Samuel van den Bergh
Background
Jurgens came from a Dutch butter-trading family in Oss that moved into margarine production in the 1870s.
Founding Story
Anton Jurgens' family firm was among the first to manufacture margarine commercially in the Netherlands after the product was invented in France. Jurgens competed for decades with the Van den Bergh family before the two merged into Margarine Unie in 1927. Margarine Unie then merged with Lever Brothers in 1929, creating Unilever.
Anton Jurgens was born in 1867.
Antonius Johannes Jurgens was born on February 8, 1867 in Oss and died on March 12, 1945. His grandfather Antoon Jurgens founded a butter company in 1867 and, in 1871, the first margarine factory in the world.