Jacques Médecin (5 May 1928 – 17 November 1998) was a French politician. A member of the Gaullist party RPR, he succeeded his father Jean Médecin as mayor of the city of Nice, serving from 1966 to 1990. Under suspicion of corruption, he fled France in 1990. He was extradited from Uruguay back to France in 1993, convicted and jailed; he died in 1998.

Biography

Médecin was born in Nice, the son of Jean Médecin, an earlier long-serving mayor of the town. He studied law in Paris and worked for several years as a journalist. He was elected mayor of Nice in 1966 after his father died in office, and member of Parliament the year after (positions he held simultaneously). He was also elected as General councillor, then president of the General Council of

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it ...

, the department surrounding Nice. Additionally, he served as Secretary of State for Tourism in

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...

's government from 1976 to 1977. Médecin was challenged in the first round of the 1977 municipal elections, and accused of links with former members of the

OAS OAS or Oas may refer to: Chemistry * O-Acetylserine, amino-acid involved in cysteine synthesis Computers * Open-Architecture-System, the main user interface of Wersi musical keyboards * OpenAPI Specification (originally Swagger Specification), ...

terrorist group which, it was claimed, had helped OAS member and notorious bank robber Albert Spaggiari to escape. Later, when Médecin was criticized for positions that were widely seen as racist, he responded that he shared almost "99% of the views" of the

far right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

National Front party, and called the party's leader Jean-Marie Le Pen an "old friend". He was a supporter of the apartheid regime in South Africa, and in 1974 proposed a town-twinning link between Nice and Cape Town. In the 1980s Médecin became the target of corruption allegations, following an exposé of judicial and police wrongdoing in Nice by British novelist Graham Greene. Accusations of political corruption against him grew through the decade, and Médecin fled France in 1990. He was finally arrested in Uruguay in 1993 and was extradited to France in 1994. He was convicted of several counts of corruption and associated crimes, and sentenced to prison. Médecin returned to Uruguay following his release from prison. He died in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in November 1998, of cardiac arrest. Outside politics, Médecin was the author of a noted book on the cuisine of the Nice region, published in English translation by Penguin Books in 1983, and reissued by ''Grub Street'' in 2002. In the context of an article about different philosophies on the preparation of

salade niçoise ''Salade niçoise'' (), ''salada nissarda'' in the Niçard dialect of the Occitan language, ''insalata nizzarda'' in Italian, is a salad that originated in the French city of Nice. It is traditionally made of tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, Niçois ...

, chef and food writer for the '' Financial Times''

Rowley Leigh Rowley Leigh (born 23 April 1950) is a British chef, restaurateur and journalist who lives in Shepherd's Bush, London. Born in Manchester, Leigh attended Rushmoor school in Bedford before going to Clifton College and Christ's College, Cambridge ...

wrote of the book: "Things changed in 1983 with the publication of the English translation of ''Cuisine Niçoise: Recipes from a Mediterranean Kitchen'' by one Jacques Médecin. In spite of the fact that Médecin was a famously racist mayor of Nice who was extradited from South America in order to face trial on corruption charges, the book, unlike its author, was a delight... However crooked Médecin had been, none of us doubted his cooking."Leigh, Rowley. "All things Nice: Salade Niçoise." Financial Times, 23 July 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2011 at: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/4eb17ce0-b286-11e0-8784-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1T1xJG9gQ

Political career

Governmental functions Secretary of State for Tourism : 1976–1977 Electoral mandates ''National Assembly of France'' Member of the National Assembly of France for

: 1967–1988. Elected in 1967, reelected in 1968, 1973, 1978, 1981, 1986. ''General Council'' President of the General Council of

: 1973–1990 (Resignation). Reelected in 1976, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1988. General councillor of

: 1961–1990 (Resignation). Reelected in 1979, 1985. '' Municipal Council'' Mayor of Nice : 1966–1990 (Resignation). Reelected in 1971, 1977, 1983, 1989 Municipal councillor of Nice : 1965–1990 (Resignation). Reelected in 1971, 1977, 1983, 1989.

External links

Obituary in the ''New York Times''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medecin, Jacques 1928 births 1998 deaths People from Nice Rally for the Republic politicians Politicians of the French Fifth Republic Mayors of Nice French prisoners and detainees People extradited from Uruguay People extradited to France