Writer and journalist Philippe Tesson, died at the age of 94

Europe 1 with AFP 11:57 a.m., February 2, 2023

Journalist, theater man and polemicist Philippe Tesson, father of writer Sylvain Tesson, died at the age of 94, the Théâtre de Poche-Montparnasse in Paris, which he directed, told AFP on Thursday.

He died at his home in Chatou (Yvelines) on Wednesday, said the jury for the Interallié prize, which he chaired, confirming information from Figaro.

Philippe Tesson had been the editor of the legendary newspaper "Combat" from 1960 to 1974, before founding his own newspaper, the "Quotidien de Paris", which he directed for 20 years (1974-1994).

With this liberal daily, support of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing before opposing the Socialists and François Mitterrand, he had set foot in the stirrup for many personalities: Eric Zemmour, Jean-Marc Sylvestre, Catherine Pgard, Claire Chazal... 

“I am resolutely on the right”

He had left the newspaper in 1994, two years before it ceased publication for financial reasons.

In the 90s, a wider audience had discovered his verve and his blue eyes on TV sets, where he intervened as a polemicist and willingly took the posture of the "react" assumed. 

"Today, I am resolutely on the right. At 90, we are no longer on the left. Even Mélenchon will change", laughed this passionate about politics, friend of Pierre Mauroy (his classmate at the college of Cateau-Cambrésis) and declared support for Emmanuel Macron in 2017.

Founder of the "Daily Pharmacist"

His other passion was the theatre.

He had notably written as a theatrical critic in Le Canard enchaîné or Le Figaro and in 2011 bought the Théâtre de Poche-Montparnasse, which he directed with his daughter, Stéphanie Tesson.

Father of two other children, the writer Sylvain Tesson and the journalist Daphné Tesson, Philippe Tesson was born into a bourgeois family from Picardy, in Wassigny (Aisne) on March 1, 1928.

With his doctor wife, Marie-Claude Millet (1942-2014), he had also founded "Le Quotidien du médecins" and "Le Quotidien du pharmacist".

He continued to chair the jury for the Interallié prize until the end, which he had joined in 1993.