Marcel Mart (10 May 1927 – 15 November 2019) was a

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

ish politician, jurist, and businessman.

Biography

Mart was born in

Esch-sur-Alzette Esch-sur-Alzette (; lb, Esch-Uelzecht ; german: Esch an der Alzette or ''Esch an der Alzig'') is the second city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the country's second-most populous commune, with a population of 35,040 inhabitants, . It lies ...

. He studied law in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and at the

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the wor ...

graduating in 1953. After university, he practiced law in Luxembourg for a short time. In 1955, he moved out of legal work to become the business editor for '' Agence Europe''. After five years in that role, he entered public service as an associate spokesman for the European Coal and Steel Community. He continued working with the European Community in New York and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

for the next several years. He also contributed to the '' D'Lëtzebuerger Land'' for 12 years. In 1969, he joined the second Werner–Schaus cabinet as the Minister of National Economy, Middle Classes and Tourism and the Minister of Transport and Energy. He continued in his post in the Thorn Ministry after the 1974 elections. as the Minister of Transport, he introduced speed limits, mandatory seat belt laws and alcohol checks for drunk driving. During the 1973 oil crisis, he introduced car-free Sundays. He also advocated for the construction of a nuclear power plant near

Remerschen Remerschen ( lb, Rëmerschen) is a former commune and small wine-growing town in south-eastern Luxembourg, belonging to the commune of Schengen, near the point where the borders of Germany, France and Luxembourg come together. , the town of Remer ...

. In 1977, the European Economic Community formed the

European Court of Auditors The European Court of Auditors (ECA; French: ''Cour des comptes européenne'') is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg in order to improve EU financial management. It has 27 members ( ...

by combining audit functions for both the EEC and the European Coal and Steel Community. Mart resigned from the cabinet to become Luxembourg's representative on the Court. In 1984, he was elected the president of the court and served in that role until 1989. After stepping down from the Court of Auditors, Mart entered into service of the Luxembourg royal court as the

Hofmarschall The ''Hofmarschall'' (plural: Hofmarschälle) was the administrative official in charge of a princely German court, supervising all its economic affairs. Historically, every civil service was regarded as court service (e.g. the Russian nobility is ...

for

Grand Duke Jean Jean (Jean Benoît Guillaume Robert Antoine Louis Marie Adolphe Marc d'Aviano; 5 January 1921 – 23 April 2019) was the Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1964 until his abdication in 2000. He was the first Grand Duke of Luxembourg of French agnatic ...

in 1990. He stepped down in 1993, but served the Grand Duke's court until 1996. In 1994, he was the president of the board of directors for Luxembourg's international exposition agency, Foire, now known as Luxexpo. He had stints in the banking field in his career including as a board member of the Luxembourg branch of Dresdner Bank and Banque Générale du Luxembourg.

Personal life

He had two children with his first wife, Daniel and Caroline. Caroline Mart is a journalist with

RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg is the main television channel in Luxembourg, broadcasting in Luxembourgish. It is part of RTL Group. History The small television market in Luxembourg led to a unique system in Europe: Luxembourg was the only country in ...

. He remarried to Liette Weber after the death of this first wife. Mart died on November 15, 2019 at the age of 92.

References

, - , - , - 1927 births 2019 deaths Ministers for the Economy of Luxembourg Ministers for Energy of Luxembourg Ministers for Transport of Luxembourg Democratic Party (Luxembourg) politicians 20th-century Luxembourgian lawyers Luxembourgian businesspeople People from Esch-sur-Alzette {{Luxembourg-politician-stub