Frédéric Mitterrand, former Minister of Culture, writer and television man, died at the age of 76

The nephew of François Mitterrand, who had been a minister under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, was also a media man in the broad sense.

Former Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand died Thursday March 21 at the age of 76, according to his family to AFP, as well as the presidency and former presidency of the Republic to France Télévisions. The nephew of the former head of state was also a personality in the world of culture in the broad sense: he had in turn been a cinema operator, television presenter-producer, writer, director of documentaries and films.

This novelist had also managed the Villa Medici in Rome before being appointed Minister of Culture from 2009 to 2012, under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, in the government of François Fillon. In February 2021, Frédéric Mitterrand was installed at the Academy of Fine Arts, in the chair previously occupied by actress Jeanne Moreau, in the cinema and audiovisual section.

A fight against an “aggressive cancer”

Frédéric Mitterrand had several times confessed his “bad life”, title of one of his books published in 2005. He recounted the sex tourism he had practiced in Thailand and the Maghreb. Initially praised, his book then sparked controversy, forcing him to defend himself from any relationship with minors or the apology of child crime.

“He had been fighting an aggressive cancer for several months”, writes his family in their press release sent to AFP. This unclassifiable personality announced in April 2023 to be “sick (…) for three months”. “I wear a cap because I’m sick”he declared while he was the guest of Pascal Praud, on CNews, suggesting that it was cancer. “Me, faced with my ice cream, the chemo look, I don’t want it. (…) I don’t want people to see that I’m sick, so I’m a little less sick when I have my cap. Everyone knows that it’s a very tough fight. But there is no other solution: it’s make or die. They tell me that I have a lot of courage, but no . If we love life, we continue.”he added.