Jan Bohdan Wejchert (January 5, 1950 - October 31, 2009) was a Polish businessman and media mogul. Wejchert was the co-founder of the ITI Group, one of Poland's largest media groups, as well as the co-founder and co-owner of the TVN television network.

Early career

Wejchert graduated from the Economics Faculty of the University of Warsaw. In 1974, Wejchert began his career as a businessman by working for Konsuprod, GmbH & Co., a German trading company. Wejchert later incorporated the new Polish subsidiary of Konsuprod in 1976, the first instance of direct foreign investment in Poland, which was under Communist rule.

Career

Wejchert co-founded the ITI Group in 1984 with businessman, Mariusz Walter. Wejchert became the ITI Group's first president and founding shareholder. He ran ITI in a partnership with Walter and Bruno Valsangiacomo. He later co-founded and co-owned both the TVN television network[1] and TVN 24 television networks. He sat on the management board of TVN.

He was also the co-owner and deputy president of the Onet.pl group. Additionally, Wejchert co-owned the Legia Warszawa football club.

In 1991, he was appointed to the US-Poland Action Commission, which was headed by Zbigniew Brzezinski. Wejchert was a co-founder of the Polish Business Roundtable, a business club, and served as the organization's first president. The Polish Business Rountable is headquartered at the Sobański Palace, a 19th century Warsaw townhouse owned by Wejchert since 1996. Wejchert restored the townhouse in the late 1990s.

Wejchert also purchased Stara Papiernia, a suburban Warsaw paper mill which was destroyed by fire in 1984. He restored Stara Papiernia and reopened the building, incorporating it into a shopping center in November 2002.

Personal life

Wejchert was a resident of Konstancin-Jeziorna, a suburb of Warsaw. He was married, and the couple had five children.

Jan Wejchert died on October 31, 2009, at the age of 59. Wejchert had fought leukemia since 1993, which he had kept secret from the public. However, the cause of his death was a heart attack due to an infection and sepsis.