Louis-Dreyfus was born in
Paris in 1932. His great-grandfather
Léopold Louis-Dreyfus founded the
Louis Dreyfus Group in 1851. His mother, Dolores Porges (née Neubauer; 1905–1987), was American-born, His father,
Pierre Louis-Dreyfus (1908–2011), was a
Frenchman who headed the Louis Dreyfus group. Pierre, who was
Jewish, fought in the
French Resistance during
World War II; his mother was Catholic. He has one sister, Dominique Cornwell. Another cousin is
Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the former chief executive officer of
Adidas and ex-Chairman of French football club
Marseille. In 1940, Louis-Dreyfus moved to the
United States with his mother after her divorce from Pierre. By 1945, he had adopted the name William as a symbol of his integration into American society. After graduating from
Duke University and
Duke University School of Law, Louis-Dreyfus worked at the law firm of
Dewey Ballantine, New York, before joining Louis Dreyfus in 1965. He was chairman of the
Poetry Society of America from 1998 to 2008. He had poems published in publications such as
The Hudson Review. == Politics ==