François Fontaine (20 December 1917 – 23 March 1996) was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

. Fontaine was long associated with

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

, with whom he started working in 1945 at the

Commissariat général du Plan The General Planning Commission () was an advisory body reporting to the government of France, extant from 1946 to 2006. History The idea of the Commission came from exchanges between Charles de Gaulle and Jean Monnet. It was established by De ...

, and with the early build-up of European institutions. In the early 1970s while working at the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

office in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he drafted most of the text of Monnet's ''Memoirs'' published by

Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...

in 1976, even as Monnet himself retained ultimate control. The English translation by

Richard Mayne Sir Richard Mayne KCB (27 November 1796 – 26 December 1868) was a barrister and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the London Metropolitan Police (1829–1868). With an incumbency of 39 years, he rem ...

was published by

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in 1978. After Monnet's Memoirs were published, Fontaine moved on to writing successful historical novels. He won the ''Prix Méditerranee'' in 1987 for his book '' Blandine de Lyon''. His son Pascal (born 1948) also worked with Monnet on historical research in the early 1970s and was involved in the preparation of the ''Memoirs'' as well. He later wrote a biography of Monnet on his own, published in 1988 as ''L'Inspirateur'' and in an expanded version in 2013 as ''Jean Monnet, Actualité d'un bâtisseur de l'Europe unie''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontaine, François 20th-century French civil servants 20th-century French writers 1917 births 1996 deaths