Pierre Laffitte, the founder president of Sophia Antipolis, the largest and first science park in France and Europe located on the heights of Antibes, succumbed to cardiac arrest during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, his relatives announced to Nice morning. He was 96 years old.
The Technopole today mourns the death of
Pierre Laffitte, founder of Sophia Antipolis.
A great visionary at the origin of a crazy dream: an international city of science, today the 1st Technopole in Europe, born from this ideal which is still growing with its founding values pic.twitter.com/MCeYSeyvVA– Sophia Antipolis (@ Sophia50ans) July 7, 2021
A scientist but also a politician, he was a senator for the Alpes-Maritimes from 1985 to 2008. He was recently committed alongside Corinne Paolini in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, his home town. The latter paid tribute to him this Wednesday morning: “Saint-Paulois de stock, already a friend of my grandfather, he was my support from the start in my commitment to Saint-Paul. […] Dean of our team, he was at all our meetings, like a tireless marathon runner who lived in an urgent need, passionate about finding solutions in everything. “
President of the Sophia Antipolis urban community and Mayor of Antibes, Jean Leonetti, also reacted by emphasizing his “visionary spirit. [qui] planted in the middle of the scrubland the seeds of what was to become the first technopolis in Europe. “