Étienne Mourrut (4 December 1939 - 19 October 2014) was a French

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. A member of the RPR and the UMP, he was deputy of the 2nd District of the Gard between 2002 and 2012 and Mayor of

Le Grau-du-Roi Le Grau-du-Roi (; ) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. It is the only commune in Gard to have a frontage on the Mediterranean. To the west is the Herault department and La Grande-Motte village, and to the east is the Bouc ...

between 1983 and 2014.

Biography

Family

On his father's side, he comes from a family of Graulen fishermen. Her mother, descended from Italian immigrants, was born in 1909 and died in 2005 and was a bazaar merchant. Of his seven or eight siblings, two died for

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. His parents were "very Catholic", and would later be reticent of their son's engagement in the political system. He had a sister, named Émélie. He was married to Michele - who he encountered during his military service in St. Raphael, see below - in 1962 and was father of two sons, Jean-Michel and Patrice born respectively in 1963 and 1967 and both traders His stepdaughter was Pascale Mourrut, who was a candidate for the regional elections 2010 in Languedoc-Roussillon and municipal elections of 2014 Grau-du-Roi and his parliamentary assistant until 2012. It became in 2014, shortly before his death, parliamentary collaborator Vivette Lopez. Finally, he had four grandchildren: Amelia, Nicolas, Marie and Leo-Paul and was also the cousin of Leopold Rosso. He lived in the city center of

, on the left bank of the channel.

Childhood and Education

In his youth, Mourrut was nicknamed the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

word "bacalao" means "cod". He kept that nickname for all his life. He was raised "in the cult of remembrance, in respect for the nation". When he was 14, the story of the battle of Diên Biên Phu, read in the ''

Midi Libre ''Midi Libre'' () is a French daily newspaper in Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpelli ...

,'' the brand. He was also struck by the inaction and corruption of politicians in the Fourth Republic. All this, therefore, helped to bring him closer to the personality of

General de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

Professional career

In a left region, he was in favor of

French Algeria French Algeria ( until 1839, then afterwards; unofficially ; ), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of History of Algeria, Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France. French rule lasted until ...

. He made his military service in the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

from 1960 to 1962, where he was called to the Saint-Raphaël Naval Air Station. He nevertheless participated in operations of the Algerian War. He then became employed at Salins du Midi, where he gained charge of maintenance and created the FO Union. He went back to being a merchant in 1972 and ended up debiting tobacco.

Political career

Especially after seeing the delayed development of Grau-du-Roi compared to the Var commons, Étienne Mourrot decided to engage in

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

. In 1965, at 25 years of age, he became

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

of the town run by the team of the Socialist Jean Bastide; although at bottom of the list, he was one of the best elected. He dreamed of being assistant. Disagreeing with the mayor, he led an apolitical list in 1971, but was beaten and did not get enough votes to sit in the municipal opposition. He then ran the local paper ''Lou Fanal'' for six years and, to oppose the management of the mayor, attended all council meetings and works records. He joined the Rally for the Republic (RPR) in 1975. He renewed his candidature in 1977 and sat on the municipal council again. He went to local elections in 1979 in the canton of

Aigues-Mortes Aigues-Mortes (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region of southern France. The medieval Ramparts of Aigues-Mortes, city walls surrounding th ...

, facing the councillors André Fabre and Jean Bastide, but lost. In 1980, he was elected secretary of the RPR

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

: then, it was the most extensive in all of France.

Mayor of Le Grau-du-Roi

= 1983-1990: First Steps as Mayor of Le Grau-du-Roi

= Mourrot was elected mayor in municipal elections in 1983. He was constantly re-elected from that point onward. His first major action was the pedestrianization of Rédarès Street in 1984, followed by many other routes later on. After the 1984 to 1986 port developments, construction of municipal subdivisions Lou Lantern (1985), The Magnolias (1988) and

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

(1990), and the creation of the Maison des Vins at Espiguette took place. At the same time, a children's nursery and new cemetery in 1988, the Palace of Sport and Culture in 1990, and the Sea Palace with Seaquarium in 1989 were created. On 15 August 1984, he decided to start management of municipalization in Grau-du-Roi arenas, and he entrusted Philippe Cuillé to do such. He was finally elected to the General Council of Gard in 1985. He sold his mandate in 2002 to Leopold Rosso in order to comply with the mandate of accumulation. He was a regional councilor from 1986 to 1992. In 1987, he proceeded to the change of the land use plan (POS). Re-elected in municipal elections in 1989 against Michel Picon, he was chosen as the chief assistant of Mireille Ardois already under the previous term of office assistant and future CEO of SAGR. In April 1990, he organized a big rally on the anniversary of his re-election.

= 1990-2000: Profound Changes

= During the 1990s, Le Grau-du-Roi continued to develop various facilities: a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

opened in 1993 and the Waterfront Boulevard was renovated and enlarged, which eventually became the Marshal Boulevard in June. 1996 saw the construction of a waste-water treatment plant and the installation of a

thalassotherapy Thalassotherapy (from the Greek word ''thalassa'', meaning "sea") is the use of seawater as a form of therapy. Note: Thalasso therapy is a sub-definition under the listing for Thalasso. It also includes the systematic use of sea products and shor ...

center settled in Port-Camargue. Additionally, the city acquired the private nursing home of the St. Vincent residence in 1999. While being candidate of the RPR for senatorial elections in September 1998, he was defeated in the second round, coming in fifth place behind Gilbert Baumet. In 2002, he organized a local

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

founded on the purchase of the Villa Rédarès municipality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mourrut, Etienne 1939 births 2014 deaths French people of Italian descent French Roman Catholics Rally for the Republic politicians Debout la France politicians Union for a Popular Movement politicians The Popular Right Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Gard Mayors of places in Occitania (administrative region) Workers' Force members French Navy personnel Deaths from oral cancer in France