The founder of the French National Front party (now called the National Rally), Jean-Marie Le Pen, has died at the age of 96 in a care center. “surrounded by loved ones” his family said in a statement cited by national media.
Born in 1928, the son of a fisherman and a seamstress, Le Pen worked in numerous trades throughout his life, including fisherman, deep-sea miner, and apartment surveyor. He also twice volunteered for the parachute regiment of the French Foreign Legion and was involved in the Suez conflict in 1956 and the Algerian War of 1957.
He began his political career in the 1950s and was elected to the French National Assembly twice between 1956 and 1962 before founding his own party, the National Front, in 1972.
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