Jean-Claude Thomas (16 March 1950 – 13 November 2018) was a member of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known a ...

. He represented the

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

department, and was a member of the

Gauche démocrate et républicaine The Democratic and Republican Left group (french: groupe de la Gauche démocrate et républicaine or GDR) is a parliamentary group in the National Assembly including representatives of the French Communist Party (PCF) as well as leftist parties w ...

Biography

Early Life Jean-Claude Thomas was born on 16 March 1950 in the

14th arrondissement of Paris The 14th arrondissement of Paris ( ), officially named ''arrondissement de l'Observatoire'' (; meaning "arrondissement of the Observatory", after the Paris Observatory), is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is situa ...

. Born to Roger Thomas and Georgette Roy, his family collectively ran a grocery store in Paris. When he was three years old, he was sent to

Nièvre Nièvre () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, central-east France. Named after the river Nièvre, it had a population of 204,452 in 2019.Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. He later earned a doctoral degree from a dental school in

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

and became a dentist in 1978. Political Career Thomas became deputy to

Jean Falala Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

in 1981 and continued in his position when Falala was elected mayor of Reims in 1983. In 1985, Thomas became General Councillor of the newly created Reims-10 district. Thomas was elected Deputy of the 3rd District of Marne on 18 June 1988 with a slim 50.29% majority over Jean-Claude Fontalirand. He was re-elected in 1992, 1997, 2002, and 2007. Jean Falala resigned in 1999 amid health concerns, and was succeeded by

Jean-Louis Schneiter Jean-Louis Schneiter (17 January 1933 – 7 September 2016) was a French politician. He served as a member of the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legisl ...

. Schneiter kept Thomas as General Councillor, and was re-elected in 2001. However, in 2008, Thomas was defeated by socialist Stéphane Rummel, with 58.15% to 41.85% of votes. Thomas opted not to run for re-election in Marne's 3rd district in the 2012 elections, instead being succeeded by Philippe-Armand Martin. Jean-Claude Thomas died on 13 November 2018 at age 68.

References

1950 births 2018 deaths Politicians from Paris Rally for the Republic politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians Deputies of the 9th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 10th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 11th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic {{France-politician-RPR-stub