Biography

Under her married name (as Josette Day Solvay, Josette Day-Solvay, or Madame Maurice Solvay), she owned several ancient collections valued for several thousands of dollars that have been displayed and sold to exhibits and auctions. Some such pieces include, the "Bound Captive" stone statue depicting a male torso with hands bound behind his back; it is believed to be second century A.D. made either during the classical or Egyptian periods and valued at £350,000 as reported in Isuu magazine (2009). Books of her ancient art and furniture collections have been published from 2000-2003 in French.

Widow of Maurice Solvay, a multi-millionaire Belgian chemical magnate and descendant of the creator of the "Solvay Process". He was reported to be "one of the richest men in Europe". He died at age 62 (on 20 June 1960) in Paris, France. She first met Maurice when he knocked on her door, appearing beggarly, for help to shelter him from the Gestapo during World War II. (Friends had given Josette's address to wounded resistance fighters). Soon after the Allies had entered Paris, he left and Josette knew neither his name nor his address, and it took almost a year for Maurice to come back and thank her; they would later marry in 1950. In February 1959 while on cruise in the Pacific, she and Maurice met a Tahitian girl at a Papeete market named Hinano Tiatia, whom the couple took under legal guardianship for a later adoption. Hinano was the center of Maurice's multi-million dollar inheritance dispute as Maurice had died suddenly in 1960 before the couple could formally adopt her, and his family was contesting a portion of his fortune that Josette insists should go to Hinano.

Her husband Maurice Solvay was a descendant of the Belgian chemist and industrialist Ernest Solvay, who developed the "Solvay Process" (or ammonia-soda process). The Solvay company was one of the earliest chemical multinationals and today is among the world's largest chemical companies generating billions of dollars in revenues and sales (as of 2014).

Maurice Solvay died before he and Josette could formally adopt Hinano, so Josette adopted the child on her own. The official child's name was Hinano Tiatia Dagory.

Sold her mansion on the 6 Rue Alberic Magnard for 4.1 million francs to the government of Thailand, which has converted it into an embassy. She acquired the property after her husband Maurice Solvay passed away. The residence, built in 1927, is a two-and-a-half story building that includes total of 10 bedrooms. Many important guests stayed there, such as Her Majesty Queen Sirikit on a number of occasions.