Gérard Collomb, former mayor of Lyon and Minister of the Interior, died on Saturday November 25. He was suffering from stomach cancer.
A “dear friend” And “a statesman who embodied republican ascension and authority”. It is with these words that Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Gérard Collomb, his former Minister of the Interior between May 2017 and October 2018, who died this Saturday, November 25, at the age of 76, from stomach cancer . In a message to AFP, including Lyon Mag echoed, his wife announced that the former mayor of Lyon “wished, when it became clear that his illness could not be amelioratedlioreated by any anti-cancer treatment, benefiting from deep sedation which allowed him to pass away peacefully with his family”.
In fact, Gérard Collomb announced, on September 16, on the social network X, that he was suffering from stomach cancer. His state of health had deteriorated considerably in recent days, and he had been taken care of by the oncology department of Lyon Sud hospital. His death occurred “during a short period of coma”, according to his wife. Married since 2001 to Caroline, he leaves five children, including three from two previous unions.
Political tributes
In a press release, the Macron couple welcomed “with sorrow, the memory of a dear friend, of a mayor who devoted his exceptional talents of dialogue and imagination to building a city in his image, of a statesman who embodied ascension and republican authority“. A position shared by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne: “Tireless servant of the State, republican, companion from the very beginning of the President: Gérard Collomb served the French all his life, as mayor of Lyon, as Minister of the Interior. We are losing a great man.“
A member of the Socialist Party since its creation in 1969, Gérard Collomb was one of the first to follow Emmanuel Macron before the 2017 presidential election. And François Hollande wrote in a press release: “He contributed to the refoundation of the PS with François Mitterrand then Pierre Mauroy. He thought he would continue his social-democratic commitment by choosing to follow another path.”
Weakened politically by the Benalla affair “difficult to live”according to him, this “fidshe among the faithfulTHE” had resigned with a bang in October 2018 from his post as Minister of the Interior to resume his functions in Lyon, which he had handed over to two of his lieutenants. His successors at Place Beauvau also paid tribute to him: “The Ministry of the Interior and the police have lost a great minister and a great defender of their actions. Gérard Collomb will have been a great servant of the general interest and will mark the history of Place Beauvau”wrote Gérald Darmanin on X. For his part, Christophe Castaner spoke of a “man of the field and conviction, actor of political overcoming, committed to the service of France and the Ministry of the Interior, [qui] knew how to inspire and write a new page for the country“.
The Senate paid tribute to him on Saturday evening by observing a moment of contemplation.
Lyon, his city
“This city took me twenty years to the conquesterir, twenty years of transforming it, we don’t leave it like thathas”, he said in 2020 during an electoral campaign marked by his alliance with the right between the two rounds. At odds with Macronie, whose “lack of humility“criticized on the left where he is accused of drifting to the right for his anti-terrorism law and his asylum/immigration bill, he finally saw himself pushed back onto the benches of the municipal opposition by the Greens who won both the town hall and the metropolis of Lyon, of which Gérard Collomb was the first president between 2015 and 2017.
The Lyon baron had disappeared from the local political scene since he himself announced his illness. At the head of the city, this former associate professor of classics transformed Lyon with the development of the banks of the Rhône and the quays of the Saône, as well as the construction of the eco-district of La Confluence, located to the south of the city. The Lyonnais also owe him the Confluences museum and the city’s “skyline” with the Incity and Oxygène towers. But also Les Nuits Sonores, an essential musical festival on the electronic scene, as well as the illuminations of the traditional Festival of Lights.