Léonard Gianadda (23 August 1935 – 3 December 2023) was a Swiss journalist ( TSR), engineer, and philanthropist. He was the founder and president of the

Fondation Pierre Gianadda Fondation Pierre Gianadda, inaugurated in 1978, administers museums and exhibitions located in Martigny, Switzerland. The permanent exhibitions include the Automobile Museum, Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romani ...

Life and career

Born in

Martigny Martigny (; , ; ) is the capital city of the district of Martigny (district), Martigny, cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Valais, Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is approximately 20,000 inhabitants ( ...

in 1935, Gianadda got his Engineering diploma in 1961 at the

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (, EPFL) is a public university, public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1969 with the mission to "train talented engineers in Switzerland". Like its sister institution E ...

. From 1961, Gianadda ran his own engineering agency and built more than a thousand apartments in Martigny. He founded the

in 1978 after his brother Pierre died in 1976. Gianadda died of bone cancer on 3 December 2023, at the age of 88.Le géant de Martigny Léonard Gianadda s’est éteint à 88 ans

Awards

In 1990 he received the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

. In 1997 he was made an ''Officier de l'

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

.'' In 2001 he received The National Order of the Legion of Honour and in 2003 he became an associated member of the

Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...

and the

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

References

External links

Fondation Pierre Gianadda Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gianadda, Leonard 1935 births 2023 deaths Swiss journalists Swiss engineers Swiss philanthropists École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne alumni Commanders of the Legion of Honour Grand Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic