JEAN FRANÇOIS-PONCET ’47

JEAN FRANÇOIS-PONCET, a French diplomat, businessman, senator, and former Secretary of State and Secretary General of France, as well as a recipient of an honorary degree from Wesleyan, died July 18, 2012, at age 83. He received his degree with honors and later received a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a law degree and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Paris. During World War II he served in the French Underground. The son of André François-Poncet, who was the French ambassador to Germany from 1930 to 1938, he quickly made a name for himself in the 1950s as a brilliant young diplomat. He worked with Maurice Faure in the negotiation of the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community in 1957. He continued in the diplomatic service under the Gaullist government, serving in Morocco and Iran. In 1971 he interrupted his diplomatic career to serve as CEO of Carnaud SA, a metal packaging business belonging to the Wendel family, to which he was connected through his wife, Marie-Therese de Mitry. With the election of President Giscard d’Estaing in 1974, François-Poncet returned to government service as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1976 to 1978 he served as Secretary General in the office of the President, a key post in French politics, and in 1978 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position he held until 1981. Elected Senator from the Department of Lot-et-Garonne in 1983, he served in the Senate until 2010, chairing the Economic Affairs Committee of the Senate until 2001 and serving as Vice President of the Foreign Relations and Defense Committee. He led Senate delegations in Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, China, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Middle Eastern countries. Wesleyan celebrated his achievements at the 1980 Wesleyan Commencement ceremonies, where François-Poncet delivered the commencement address and received an honorary degree. In 1981, he returned to campus to deliver the keynote address for Wesleyan’s 150th anniversary.