Jacques Calvet, the former head of the automotive group PSA, is dead at age 88

The funeral of the former leader, who died Thursday, "will be held in the strictest privacy of the family".

Jacques Calvet, former boss of the French car manufacturer PSA (Peugeot, Citroën) and the figure of the business community, died Thursday, announced on Friday his son.

The funeral of the former leader, who was 88-year-old, "will be held in the strictest privacy of the family", said his relatives in a press release. Attached to the phone, the mayor of Dieppe, which took place on the death, confirmed the information.

READ ALSO >> Fiat grand prize winner of the merger with PSA

Your support is essential. Subscribe for $ 1 support Us

"My father died yesterday," said her son, Jérôme Calvet, who runs the French subsidiary of the financial holding company japanese Nomura. He did not specify the causes or circumstances of death.

a Graduate of the Institute of political studies of Paris and of the Ecole nationale d'administration, Mr. Calvet had led the PSA group from 1984 to 1997. Arriving in a company on the brink of bankruptcy, he had made a spectacular recovery.

"Great visionary"

"It is with great sadness that I learn of the death of Jacques Calvet and I would like to express on behalf of all employees of the Group PSA our sincere condolences to his wife and to his family," responded the current boss of PSA, Carlos Tavares, in a statement.

"Jacques Calvet, great visionary, led the company from 1984 to 1997, for a car manufacturer first. I would like to salute the memory of this great captain of industry who will be leaving us, with a rare courage and a dogged determination that should inspire us", he added. "In view of the crisis we are going through, his example compels us and we are committed to protecting the company in the interest of its employees, as it has always been able to do", he said.

Jacques Calvet began his career at the Court of auditors in 1957. He was joined two years later the firm of Valéry Giscard d'estaing, the then secretary of State for Finance, he follows to become the director of the cabinet when the latter is appointed minister of Economy and Finance.

Read our complete file

PSA, the saga of Peugeot Citroën

Roubaix : the customer service of PSA relocated, more than 300 jobs are under threat "At Peugeot, there has always been a certain elegance", Gilles Vidal PSA will invest more than 200 million euros in Mulhouse in three years,

The two men separated when Valéry Giscard d'estaing is elected president of the Republic in 1974, and Jacques Calvet part in the BNP, a bank controlled by the State. The family Peugeot just look for it in 1982, when the group from the takeover of Citroën by Peugeot is the more evil.