Europe 1 with AFP 11:42 a.m., November 26, 2023

The funeral of the former interior minister of the first Macron government, Gérard Collomb, will take place on Wednesday in the Saint-Jean cathedral, in the heart of the historic district of Vieux-Lyon. The former mayor of Lyon died of stomach cancer on Saturday at the age of 76.

The funeral of Gérard Collomb, the former mayor of Lyon and former interior minister in Macron's first government, will take place on Wednesday at the Saint-Jean cathedral, in the heart of the historic district of Vieux-Lyon, his wife announced in a message to AFP on Sunday. "His public funeral will be celebrated on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. at the Saint-Jean Cathedral," said Caroline Collomb, adding that details "of the tribute that the people of Lyon will be able to pay by going to pay their respects in front of his coffin" will be communicated later.

Suffering from stomach cancer, Gérard Collomb died on Saturday evening at the age of 76 after having benefited at his request from "deep sedation which allowed him to pass away peacefully with his family", she had announced the day before.

Tributes poured in from all over the country and especially in his city

The death of this Lyon baron, whose support was decisive in Emmanuel Macron's victory in the 2017 presidential election, has sparked a shower of tributes throughout the country and especially in his city, which he has profoundly transformed in twenty years in office.

The head of state paid tribute to "a dear friend", "a mayor who devoted his exceptional talents of dialogue and imagination to building a city in his own image", a "statesman who embodied the rise and authority of the Republic". The Senate paid tribute to him on Saturday evening with a moment of reflection.

In Lyon, flags were flown at half-mast on the town hall where he sat for a long time. Green mayor Grégory Doucet expressed his "deep sadness" at the death of his predecessor, a "transformative and humanist mayor" who "will have forever marked the history" of the city.

Born on 20 June 1947 in Chalon-sur-Saône (Saône-et-Loire), to a father who was a metalworker and CGT trade unionist and a mother who was a cleaning lady, this socialist activist who had joined Emmanuel Macron's République en Marche from the outset has remained one of the emblematic political figures of the capital of the Gauls, of which he was mayor from 2001 to 2017 and then from 2018 to 2020 after a brief stint at Place Beauvau.