François-Xavier, son of Albina du Boisrouvray and Bruno Bagnoud, was born in Geneva on 11 September 1961. He grew up in Paris, where he obtained his baccalaureate and diploma from the American School. At the end of high school, he is already a patented and experienced pilot.
In 1979, he joined the School of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, United States, where he graduated as an engineer in only three years. An honorary member of an engineering company, he is also the founder of the Student Section of the American Helicopter Society at his university.
In 1981, while studying at Ann Arbor, François-Xavier wrote a manual entitled Helicopter Theory for Private Pilots, which became a reference work highly appreciated by the student pilots.
His passion for flying is such that François-Xavier becomes, at twenty-three years old, the youngest professional IFR pilot in Europe.
This passion, combined with extreme generosity, led him to join his father at Air-Glaciers, a private company specializing in mountain missions, located in Sion (Switzerland). In three years, in addition to his regular flights, he carried out more than 300 rescue missions in the Alps and in the desert.
On 14 January 1986, François-Xavier tragically lost his life on a helicopter mission in the Malian desert.
In 1989, his parents, family and friends founded the François-Xavier Bagnoud Foundation and association in order to continue his rescue work and perpetuate the values of generosity and compassion that guided his life.
« Neither we, his parents, nor his family, nor his friends know how Francis would have led his life, but we know with certainty what the values that guided her were. He would have been proud and happy about what has been accomplished on his behalf in the last 35 years. ». Albina du Boisrouvray and Bruno Bagnoud (died 2022)