former Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb is dead

4 mins

Gérard Collomb announced that he was suffering from stomach cancer on September 16, 2022, recalls the Lyon Mag site. He died this Saturday, November 25, 2023 around 9 p.m., confirmed his wife Caroline Collomb. “ When it became clear that his illness could not be improved by any anti-cancer treatment, he wanted to benefit from deep sedation which allowed him to pass away peacefully with his family. “, she explained to AFP in a brief message. Mr. Collomb was the father of five children.

Coming from a modest background in Chalon-sur-Saône, in Burgundy, he was an associate professor of classics but had taken time to establish himself politically among the socialists in Lyon, in the shadow of strong local figures within the PS, in a city long dominated by the right and the center. Elected mayor of the 9th arrondissement in 1995, while Raymond Barre took the city in the wake of Michel Noir, he finally won in 2001, to everyone’s surprise, at the same time as Bertrand Delanoë in Paris. The beginning of a long reign.

Gérard Collomb became, in the years that followed, like Georges Frêche in Montpellier, Jean-Marc Ayrault in Nantes, Alain Juppé in Bordeaux and, closer to him, Charles Hernu in Villeurbanne or Jean-Jack Queyranne in Bron, the incarnation of the city he administers. And this, lastingly. A builder in a hurry, he transformed the place. Its mandates are those of the emergence on the European and international level of the ancient capital of Gaul, with a football club, Olympique Lyonnais, in full swing, and a culture which is exported well.

Everywhere, whether it is his district, which he has made into a business hub, the Confluence, Part-Dieu districts or even the banks of the Rhône and the quays of the Saône, whose metamorphosis he accompanies, this member has part of the Socialist Party will have defied all predictions, leaving an indelible mark. Like many other French cities at the same time, it also accompanied the overhaul of transport. Under his leadership, the former December 8, which became the Festival of Lights before him, turned into a global event.

Shunned on rue de Solférino in Paris, a city he frequented for years as a deputy and then senator, Mr. Collomb finally joined Emmanuel Macron during the 2017 campaign, and left Lyon town hall to become his Minister of the Interior, a position that he abandoned early the following year after the Benalla affair in particular. This Saturday evening, President Macron greets on the social network a dear friend “, A ” statesman who embodied republican ascension and authority “, ” the worthy successor of Édouard Herriot » (see here also).

In fact, the Lyonnais will have greatly helped the head of state to reach the Élysée, before leaving, replaced by Christophe Castaner at Place Beauvau. Subsequently, Gérard Collomb will try to take back France’s third city and its Metropolis in 2020, reinstalling himself between 2018 and the elections, but he will fail, then fade away. His state of health had deteriorated in recent days, he had been taken care of by the oncology department of the Lyon Sud hospital. His death occurred during a short period of coma », specifies his wife Caroline.

This Saturday evening, the current president of the Metropolis, Bruno Bernard, pays tribute to a “ hardworking, sometimes angry, deeply endearing and above all from Lyon “. He salutes the memory of a man who “ created and was the first to preside over the Métropole de Lyon, a formidable community serving our residents and our businesses “. An operation carried out in conjunction with another figure, Michel Mercier. “ We no longer count the transformations he has made for our territory », he adds, mentioning among other things the Vélo’V system.