Paul Delouvrier (25 June 1914 – 16 January 1995) was a French administrator and economist. He was awarded the

Erasmus Prize The Erasmus Prize is an annual prize awarded by the board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation to individuals or institutions that have made exceptional contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe and the rest of the world. It ...

in 1985, a year when the theme for the award was Urban Development.

Biography

Paul Delouvrier was born in Remiremont in the Vosges mountains of eastern France. He played an active role in the French Resistance and took part in the liberation of Paris in 1944. After the war, he held various financial and economic posts and was a member of the "bright, young team" assembled by

Jean Monnet Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet (; 9 November 1888 – 16 March 1979) was a French civil servant, entrepreneur, diplomat, financier, administrator, and political visionary. An influential supporter of European unity, he is considered one of the ...

to plan the postwar recovery in France and, later, economic integration in Western Europe. Delouvrier was working in Luxembourg directing the finance division of the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...

when French Prime Minister

Charles De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

asked him to take over from the military as his chief executive in Algeria. Serving as Governor from December 1958 to November 1960, during Algeria's War of Independence, his task was to prepare the transition to civilian rule and put in place an ambitious economic and social program for the country. From 1961 to 1969, Delouvrier was the French Government's chief representative for the Paris region where he established the basis for the Master Plan for the area's development. He mapped out new satellite towns, and is credited with creating an efficient suburban commuter network that feeds into the Paris subway system, the Metro. In 1969 Delouvrier became President of Electricité de France, the French state-controlled power company. From 1979, he was President of l'Etablissement public du Parc de La Villette, the culture and science park constructed on the former abattoirs in Paris.

Honours and Awards

In 1985 Delouvrier was awarded the

. Sometimes described as a Dutch version of the Nobel Prize, the Erasmus Prize has been awarded annually since 1958 "to a person or institution that has made an exceptional contribution to the humanities, the social sciences or the arts, in Europe and beyond." The Paris-based ''Institut Paul Delouvrier'' was established in Delouvrier's memory. The ''Musée Paul Delouvrier'', located in the town of Évry near Paris, was named for Delouvrier.

References

1914 births 1995 deaths People from Remiremont Électricité de France people French urban planners Inspection générale des finances (France) {{France-business-bio-stub