Patrick Le Lay (7 June 1942 – 18 March 2020) was a French engineer who served as Director of

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

from 1988 to 2008.

Biography

Patrick was the son of engineer Jean Le Lay and Gabrielle Colin. The Le Lay family lived in Plénet during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. However, one of their hosts, Lola Drucker, was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

, but Le Lay's fluency in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

helped to save her and her family. He studied at the Lycée Saint-Vincent de Rennes, the

École Spéciale des Travaux Publics École Spéciale des Travaux Publics, du bâtiment et de l'industrie (ESTP Paris) is a French engineering school and grande école located in Paris. History The ESTP was founded in 1891 by Léon Eyrolles and was officially recognized by the St ...

, and the

HEC Paris HEC Paris (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) is a business school, and one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles, located in Jouy-en-Josas, France. HEC offers Master in Management, MSc International Fi ...

. Le Lay married Claudine Sénécal on 12 November 1966, with whom he had two children: Laurent-Éric and Anne-Vefa. His second marriage was to Dominique Polette. A public works engineer, Le Lay worked for several construction companies before

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French industrial group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the C ...

in 1981. It was with this corporation that Le Lay aided in the privatization of television channel TF1, as per the will of

Francis Bouygues Francis Bouygues (; 5 December 192225 July 1993) was a French businessman and film producer.Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Le Lay signed a contract with

Endemol Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...

in 2001 to buy all reality shows previously aired by the media company. On 22 May 2007, he relinquished his title of Managing Director to Nonce Paolini. In November 2007, Le Lay won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Best Television Director. On 27 July 2008, he announced that he would gradually leave TF1. On 31 July 2008, he resigned as CEO, leaving the job to Nonce Paolini. His salary as CEO in 2008 was estimated at €1,930,000. In July 2012, he was tried in

Nanterre Nanterre (, ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, bordering t ...

for an excessive use of fixed-term contracts as CEO of TF1, and was fined €7500. After leaving TF1, Le Lay chaired the investment fund Serendipity, of which the main shareholders are

Groupe Artémis Groupe Artémis S.A. is a holding company with a portfolio of investments in fashion, wine, luxury, art, tourism, publishing, sports, food, and technology. Headquartered in Paris, France, Groupe Artémis was founded by François Pinault in 1992 a ...

and Bouygues. In January 2010, he was removed from his position at Serendipity by

Martin Bouygues Martin Pierre Marie Bouygues (; born 3 May 1952) is the chairman and chief executive officer of the French company Bouygues which employs around 130,000 people globally. It was founded by his father Francis Bouygues in 1952. In 2015, he was rank ...

, the final move in a long series of steps by the Bouygues family to rid Le Lay of positions of power among their assets. On 7 May 2010, Le Lay was appointed as President of

Stade Rennais F.C. Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pla ...

François Pinault François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis. Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public in ...

, replacing

Frédéric de Saint-Sernin Frédéric Marie Joseph Bruno de Laparre de Saint-Sernin is a French politician and businessman, born 14 February 1958 in Reims. He was the representative of former French Co-Prince Jacques Chirac in Andorra until 2002. He was also an advise ...

, who had resigned due to health reasons. On 25 June 2012, he left this position and was replaced by de Saint-Sernin. Patrick Le Lay died on 18 March 2020 at the age of 77.

Decorations

*Commander of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

(2008). He earned Knight on 31 December 1993, Officer on 31 December 2002, and finally Commander on 21 March 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Lay, Patrick 1942 births 2020 deaths French engineers People from Saint-Brieuc French television executives French people of Breton descent Commanders of the Legion of Honour