Évelyne Baylet
Évelyne Baylet | |
---|---|
President of the General Council of Tarn-et-Garonne | |
In office 1970–1982 | |
Mayor of Valence-d'Agen | |
In office 1959–1977 | |
Preceded by | Jean Baylet |
Succeeded by | Jean-Michel Baylet |
Personal details | |
Born | Évelyne Isaac 14 June 1913 University of Algiers |
Évelyne Baylet (born Évelyne Isaac: 14 June 1913 - 6 November 2014) was a French company director. She served between 1959 and 1995 as president of the La Dépêche du Midi newspaper group, while pursuing a parallel career as a regional politician.[1][2]
In 1970 she became president of the departmental council for Tarn-et-Garonne, which is a department in the southwest of France. Membership of departmental councils had been based on universal male suffrage since 1848, and on universal adult suffrage since 1944, but it was only in 1970 that Évelyne Baylet became the first president of any departmental council in France who was also a woman.[3]
Life
Provenance and early years
Évelyne Isaac and her twin brother
Marriage and war years
On 30 December 1940 Évelyne Isaac married
In September 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. France reacted (along with Britain) by declaring war on Germany. Eight months later, in May 1940, Germany invaded France: by the end of July 1940 a puppet government, based in Vichy, was administering approximately the southern half of France (including Toulouse).[7] In 1943 Joseph Lécussan, a senior Vichy official, launched an enquiry in the region on behalf of the "Commissariat général" into the "Jewish question". Évelyne Baylet hastened to disappear, changing her name to Eliane Bories.[4]
Aftermath of Vichy
Starting in 1944, Jean and Évelyne Baylet spent two years assembling evidence of their
The young widow
Jean Baylet died relatively young, in a motor accident: he collided at high speed with a tree after a motor cyclist cut across his path, on 29 May 1959,[9] The next day his widow appeared at the printing plant and told the assembled employees "I am going to take over the direction of this newspaper" ("Je vais assumer la direction de ce journal"). She had little obvious relevant experience, while legally 76% of the ownership of the business passed directly to her teenage children. But, as she later explained, she thought she was "best places to look after the interests of the newspaper",[2] and over the next forty years that is what she did. In order to anticipate any who doubted her intentions, she joined her late husband's name to her own. Mme Évelyne Baylet became Mme Évelyne-Jean Baylet.[1]
Politics
She also assumed her husband's political mantle. Jean Baylet had served as mayor of
Final years
In 2012, now aged 99, Évelyne-Jean Baylet retired from her most enduring position, being her directorship of the La Dépêche du Midi newspaper group. Her place was taken by Jean-Nicolas Baylet, her grandson.[12] She died just over two years later.[3]
Awards and honours
- Commander of the Legion of Honour[13]
- Officer of the National Order of Merite[13]
- Commander of the Order of Academic Palms[13]
- Chevalier of the Order of Agricultural Merit[13]
References
- ^ a b c d e Yves Bordenave (19 November 2014). "Evelyne-Jean Baylet (1913-2014), ancienne patronne de " La Dépêche du Midi "". Héritière et patronne de « La Dépêche du Midi » et femme politique de gauche, Evelyne-Jean Baylet est morte le 6 novembre à l’âge de 101 ans. Le Monde (Disparitions), Paris. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d e Gilbert Laval (28 April 1997). "Evelyne Baylet, longtemps dame de fer des rad-socs et de "la Dépêche du Midi", découvre, à 84 ans, les affres des déboires judiciaires et familiaux. Le déclin de la reine mère". Libération, Paris. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ a b F. Valéry (6 November 2014). "Décès à 101 ans d'Evelyne Baylet, ancienne présidente du Conseil général du Tarn-et-Garonne et de La Dépêche du Midi". La Dépêche du Midi a annoncé ce jeudi 6 novembre le décès de son ancienne présidente, mère de Jean-Michel Baylet, et qui fut aussi la première femme présidente de conseil général en France. France 3 Occitanie, Toulouse. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Louis Olivet; André Aribaud (1 March 2014). "Jean et Evelyne Baylet". Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur .... La résistance en Tarn et Garonne. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ a b "Décès d'Evelyne-Jean Baylet". Evelyne-Jean Baylet : la disparition d'une grande Dame. La Dépêche du Midi, Toulouse. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ "Biographie Evelyne Baylet". Who's Who in France, 92300 Levallois-Perret. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ "Loi constitutionnelle du 10 juillet 1940". Jean-Pierre Maury, Université de Perpignan. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ a b c Antoinette Fouque, Mireille Calle-Gruber et Béatrice Didier (dir.), Le Dictionnaire universel des créatrices, Éditions des femmes.
- ^ Claude Got (June 2011). "29 mai 1959 .... Route nationale 113 entre Villenouvelle et Villefranche de Lauragais". destin ou accidents ? .... Le directeur général de « La Dépêche du Midi » Jean Baylet heurte un motocycliste qui croisait sa direction et heurte un arbre. Il avait 55 ans. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ^ a b "Les femmes et le pouvoir". Sénat, Paris. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ^ Robert Langlois (29 Oct 2016). "Jean-Michel Baylet : les vieux toulousains l'appellent encore "le veau sous la mère"". Ligue du Midi. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ^ "Le fils Baylet devient directeur de la publication à la Dépêche du Midi". Le Parisien. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Décès d'Évelyne-Jean Baylet, ancienne présidente de La Dépêche du Midi, à l'âge de 101 ans". La Tribune Toulouse. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2018.