The French are barely recovering from the death of Jean-Pierre Pernaut, who died this week, March 2, 2022, at the age of 71. On the other hand, they will have the opportunity to pay him a last well-deserved tribute during his funeral, the details of which have just been announced. According to our colleagues from TV Magazine, the funeral of the emblematic presenter of the JT of TF1 will be held “Wednesday March 9 from 11 a.m. at the Sainte-Clotilde Basilica in the 7th arrondissement of Paris“. If the religious ceremony will be an opportunity for everyone to pay homage to him, they specify that the burial, just after the ceremony, will take place in the privacy of the family.
The announcement of his death was made to AFP by Muriel Belgy, the agent of his wife Nathalie Marquay. “Tom, Lou, Olivier and Julia’s father died of lung cancer“Wednesday afternoon, she said. On November 23, 2021, Jean-Pierre Pernaut announced that he had lung cancer, after having already been treated for prostate cancer.
In the wake of the announcement of his death, the TF1 channel expressed its “tremendous pain”. Jean-Pierre Pernautembodied the edition of the 13H newspaper of TF1 for more than thirty years, an unequaled longevity, rewarded with unfailing loyalty from the public, until his last news on Friday December 18, 2020. In this, he was part of the family of all French people“, underlined TF1. “He made it a point of honor to offer a newspaper that responds to the daily concerns of our fellow citizens and invented local information“, continued the chain.
For 33 years, Jean-Pierre Pernaut has indeed established himself as the king of midday news, with a formula based on proximity, often criticized but still very popular, specifies AFP. He had succeeded another monument, Yves Mourousi, then boss of 13:00, in 1988. At the time, this newspaper gathered only 2.5 million viewers, behind that of Antenne 2.
The one who had joined TF1 from its creation, at the beginning of January 1975, had decided to withdraw from the JT, on December 18, 2020, when he was at the height of his audiences and his popularity. The septuagenarian had however remained active on JPP-TVan online platform to offer regional subjects created by TF1, and presented on the LCI news channel (TF1 group) a weekly program called Jean-Pierre and you. He had also created in 2021 a paper magazine, At the heart of the regions.
Nathalie Marquay was quick to react to the terrible announcement of her husband’s death. In the 8 p.m. of TF1 broadcast Thursday, the former Miss France had tender and moving words for Jean-Pierre: “Honey, if you hear me, people still love you, people are still loyal!“.