Jan Petrof awarded by Czech president

In the day of 90th anniversary of Czechoslovak Republic´s foundation, its president Václav Klaus honoured 28 personalities. Mr Jan Petrof received the State Economic Merits Medal of the third step. It was the first time when Czech entrepreneurs were honoured at this occasion.

In 90's, Jan Petrof renewed tradition of good Czech family company and raised it to the top level. In 1948, the company was nationalized and all members of PETROF family were let out. However after the Velvet Revolution, Mr Petrof became a business manager of the company and since 1991 he was trying to return it to ownership of his family. In restitution, the family got back only four percentages, so he had to buy the rest of the company's value.

Since 2001, the PETROF company, major European piano manufacturer, has been fully in property of the PETROF family. Nowadays it is Mr Petrof's daughter, Mrs Zuzana Ceralova Petrofova, who runs the company. However, Mr Petrof is still involved in the communal matters of the company.

President´s speech and the list of honoured persons is available here.
The ceremonial in the Czech Television you can find here

MR JAN PETROF PLAYING AT THE PETROF 284 MISTRAL GRAND PIANO (OCTOBER 2008)