Michelin boss Edouard Michelin dies in accident

PARIS, May 26 (Reuters) Edouard Michelin, the joint managing director of Michelin, the French tire maker, has died in a boating accident, the company said today.

The French group added in a statement that Michel Rollier, who had been joint managing partner along with Edouard Michelin, would ''assure the continuity of the company's management.'' French television reports said he died in the accident off the Ile de Sein island in Brittany in Western France.

Born in 1963, Edouard Michelin graduated with an engineering degree from the Ecole Centrale de Paris, before joining his family's company in 1985.

He held various posts in the fields of research, production and sales before becoming head of the company in 1999.

REUTERS DH RN0103