Lionel Guy Stoléru (22 November 1937 – 30 November 2016) was a French politician and civil servant. He was also an orchestra founder and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. His father, Ilie, was a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

immigrant from

Vaslui Vaslui (), a city in eastern Romania, is the seat of Vaslui County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. The city administers five villages: Bahnari, Brodoc, Moara Grecilor, Rediu, and Viișoara. History Archaeological surveys indicate t ...

. Stoléru was born in

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

and attended the

École polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

, where he studied to be a mining engineer and graduated in 1956. Stoléru continued his studies at the

École des Mines de Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, and also did graduate studies at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in the US, earning a doctorate in economics with

Kenneth Arrow Kenneth Joseph Arrow (August 23, 1921 – February 21, 2017) was an American economist, mathematician and political theorist. He received the John Bates Clark Medal in 1957, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1972, along with ...

. From 1963 to 1965, Stoléru was a mining engineer in the Douai ''arrondissement''. He was an academic at the Ecole polytechnique (Paris), and later at the Ecole des Mines de Paris, between 1969 and 1988. He also served in the cabinet of

French President The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the pos ...

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, ; ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as simply Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Ministry of the Economy ...

as an economic advisor, beginning in 1969. He subsequently held several administrative posts in several French governments: * ''Secrétaire d'État chargé de la condition des travailleurs manuels'' (1974–1978) * ''Secrétaire d'État chargé des travailleurs manuels et immigrés'' (1978–1981) * ''Secrétaire d'État auprès du Premier ministre, chargé du Plan'' (1988–1991) Stoléru learned the piano in his early years. In 1988, he formed the ''Orchestre Romantique Européen'' (ORE), and remained affiliated with the ORE until its disbandment in 2013. He was named a

Commander of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

in December 2015. Stoléru and his wife Francine Wolff, who died in 2009, had one daughter,

Emmanuelle Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the protagonist in the novel of the same name, by Emmanuelle Arsan, written in 1959 and published in 1967. Emmanuelle originated as the pen name ''Emmanuelle Arsan' ...

. He died 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 ...

in 2016 aged 79.

Honours

On 31 December 2015, he was awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in the grade of Commander.

References

Selected publications

* ''L'Impératif industriel'' (1968) * ''Vaincre la pauvreté dans les pays riches'' (1974) * ''La France à deux vitesses'' (1982) * ''L'Alternance tranquille'' (1985) * ''L'Ambition internationale'' (1987) * ''L'Économie'' (1999) * ''Une écoute du romantisme'' (2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stoleru, Lionel 1937 births 2016 deaths Politicians from Nantes Jewish French politicians French people of Romanian-Jewish descent Radical Party (France) politicians Union for French Democracy politicians Ecology Generation politicians Secretaries of state of France Deputies of the 9th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic French classical composers French male classical composers French conductors (music) French male conductors (music) École Polytechnique alumni Corps des mines Stanford University alumni Commanders of the Legion of Honour Musicians from Nantes