According to our information, Gérard Collomb died this Saturday evening at the age of 76.
On September 16, 2022, he revealed that he had stomach cancer. His fight against the disease ended after a little over a year of struggle.
Married to Caroline Collomb, he was the father of five children. His wife quickly confirmed our information to AFP, explaining that the former councilor had “desired when it became obvious that his illness could not be improved by any anti-cancer treatment, to benefit from deep sedation which allowed him to pass away peacefully with his family”.
Former mayor of Lyon and president of Greater Lyon which became the Métropole, ex-Minister of the Interior and parliamentarian, transitioned from socialism to macronism, Gérard Collomb will have had many lives. And most of them were in the service of the city he loved so much.
The son of a modest household in Chalon-sur-Saône, he became an associate professor of classics in Lyon before beginning a political career long punctuated by defeats before reaching its peak for two decades.
Gérard Collomb, before being the Baron of Lyon with a well-oiled system but with its gray areas, was first Gégé the loser. With a full mustache, he entered the municipal council in 1977 and took almost 20 years to become mayor of his 9th arrondissement. His membership in the Socialist Party, however, allowed him to become a parliamentarian in 1981: deputy for the 2nd constituency of Rhône between 1981 and 1988, he was then beaten twice by Bernadette Isaac-Sibille before trying his luck as senator in 1999.
His masterstroke was 2001. At the head of plural left lists, he took advantage of the sharing of votes between Michel Mercier and Charles Millon to succeed Raymond Barre. It was the beginning of a reign lasting three mandates, and a stranglehold on the politics of Lyon and the conurbation.
Its major projects
Some criticize him for having only continued the work already initiated under Michel Noir. But Gérard Collomb will be remembered for several projects or successes that he inaugurated.
Like the Banks of the Rhône, gone from flood-prone car parks to greenery, a place for walks and festive gatherings from Gerland to the Parc de la Tête d’Or. We will obviously remember the arrival of the Vélo’V. Lyon, a pioneer, would show the way to the rest of the country with its self-service bicycle system. The Confluence, with its architectural successes and its limitations in terms of transport and neighborhood life, was built.
Gérard Collomb had also given the green light to create a skyline at Part-Dieu, which he dreamed of as the little sister of La Défense.
Finally, how can we miss the Metropolis of Lyon, a unique community in France that emerged from his imagination and that of Michel Mercier. It allowed Gérard Collomb to gain power and the President of the Department to get rid of debts which would have led the Rhône to ruin.
His great failings
Capable of memorable anger, to the point of literally banging his head against the walls, Gérard Collomb has a dark side. Unable to cede an ounce of power, he turned against all his foes, heirs and successors. From Najat Vallaud-Belkacem to David Kimelfeld and Thierry Braillard via Thomas Rudigoz and Nathalie Perrin-Gilbert, the list of those he sought to “kill” is long.
A Freemason, Gérard Collomb often relied on networks. From culture to real estate, he has very often given in, entrusted to the same people. A handful of relatives thus became rich in Dantesque proportions during his mandates.
Justice will rarely have poked its nose into his alleged schemes. The Meriem Nouri affair was still active at the time of his death; his ex-wife was suspected of having had a fictitious job at Lyon town hall. Just like the one more recently focusing on its links with Vinci in the context of the To Lyon tower project.
His brief visit to Beauvau
Rewarded for his active campaign alongside the Macronists in 2017, Gérard Collomb was appointed Minister of the Interior. He remained in government for only a year, shocked by the lack of support from the executive during the Benalla affair, and worried to see David Kimelfeld and Georges Képénékian taking their comfort in the Lyon seats that he had left them.
His immigration law sounds like the total end of his socialism, his former companions in the rose party never again considered him to be left-wing.
Finally leaving the ministry to rush back to an urban area that he feels is slipping away from him, he will announce like a prophecy of the suburbs now taken over by the far right: “Today we live side by side, I fear that tomorrow we will live face to face”.
Beaten by environmentalists in 2020 in the metropolitan elections, as well as in the municipal elections where he supported his foe Yann Cucherat, Gérard Collomb had difficulty getting back into the shoes of the opponent. During his two years on the benches of the municipal council, he was often mocked by his successor who criticized him for having left Lyon considerably behind in terms of ecological transition, and for not understanding the challenges of tomorrow. Like his friend Jean-Michel Aulas, kicked out of OL, Gérard Collomb tended to constantly want to remind us that without him, the city would not shine as much.
Whether or not we like the character, his political career, his projects, no one can say that Gérard Collomb was not a notable mayor for Lyon. And that he enters, as he dreamed, into history alongside Edouard Herriot, as one of the city councilors to whom the Lyonnais will remain most attached.