Hugo Eckener

Dr. Hugo Eckener was the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the interwar years, and also the commander of the famous Graf Zeppelin for most of its recordsetting flights, including the first airship flight around the world, making him the most successful airship commander in history. He was also responsible for the construction of the most successful type of airships of all time. An antiNazi who was invited to campaign as a moderate in the German presidential elections, he was blacklisted by that regime and eventually sidelined.

Eckener was born in Flensburg as the first child of Johann Christoph Eckener from Bremen and Anna Lange, daughter of a shoemaker. As a youth he was judged an indifferent student, and he spent summers sailing and winters ice skating.

Source: Wikipedia