Many Lyonnais and many political figures gathered at the Saint-Jean cathedral in Lyon to THE funeral by Gérard Collomb, this Wednesday, November 29. Among them, Anne-Laure Collombsecond of five children of the former Marie de Lyon and former Minister of the Interior, spoke to express his affection for his father, who died on Saturday November 25 at the age of 76. “I would like to briefly discuss another time with you.”she proclaimed to the audience gathered in the cathedral. “A time made up of struggles and ideals, a time when we thought that man was not a wolf to man. A time when we tried to rewrite the world. An open, tolerant, fair and equitable world.”
Anne-Laure Collomb, doctor in art history, explains that this ideal is the one that her father wanted to pass on to his five children. “These are all these dreams, all these humanist ramparts that he erected by reading to us from a very young age Victor Hugo, Alfred de Vigny, Arthur Rimbaud… This is the legacy our father left us“she added. “My farewells will be linked to those of the Albatross by Charles Beaudelaire, poetry that he loved and, ultimately, embodied so well.”
⋙ PHOTOS – Funeral of Gérard Collomb: Emmanuel Macron, Élisabeth Borne and Sylvie Tellier gathered for a final farewell
“My farewells will be linked to those of the Albatross, poetry that he loved and ultimately that he embodied so well” pic.twitter.com/tHaG1KmfSw
— France 3 Rhône-Alpes (@F3Rhone_Alpes) November 29, 2023
Gérard Collomb: what did he die of?
Mayor of Lyon for a total of almost 18 years, president of the metropolis of Lyon for 2 years and Minister of the Interior for more than a year, Gérard Collomb announced on September 16, 2022, in a message published on Twitter, that he was suffering from stomach cancer. He died a little over a year after this revelation. Gérard Collomb was the father of five children, two sons and three daughters: Thomas And Anne Laure (49 and 47 years old), born from his first marriage with Geneviève Bateau, Alexandre Collomb (27 years old), born from his union with Mériem Nouri, and Clemence and Camille (19 and 16 years old), born from his second marriage to Caroline Rougé.
Photo credits: CYRIL MOREAU / BESTIMAGE