Patrick Le Lay (7 June 1942 – 18 March 2020) was a French engineer who served as Director of

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

from 1988 to 2008.

Biography

Patrick was the son of engineer Jean Le Lay and Gabrielle Colin. The Le Lay family lived in Plénet during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. However, one of their hosts, Lola Drucker, was arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

, but Le Lay's fluency in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

helped to save her and her family. He studied at the Lycée Saint-Vincent de Rennes, the

École Spéciale des Travaux Publics École Spéciale des Travaux Publics, du bâtiment et de l'industrie (ESTP) is a French engineering school and grande école located in Cachan. History ESTP was founded in 1891 by Léon Eyrolles and was officially recognized by the State in 19 ...

, and the

HEC Paris HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...

. Le Lay married Claudine Sénécal on 12 November 1966, with whom he had two children: Laurent-Éric and Anne-Vefa. His second marriage was to Dominique Polette. A public works engineer, Le Lay worked for several construction companies before

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the ...

in 1981. It was with this corporation that Le Lay aided in the privatization of television channel TF1, as per the will of

Francis Bouygues Francis Bouygues (; 5 December 192225 July 1993) was a French businessman and film producer.Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Le Lay signed a contract with

Endemol Endemol B.V. (stylized in all lowercase) was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted gen ...

in 2001 to buy all reality shows previously aired by the media company. On 22 May 2007, he relinquished his title of Managing Director to Nonce Paolini. In November 2007, Le Lay won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for Best Television Director. On 27 July 2008, he announced that he would gradually leave TF1. On 31 July 2008, he resigned as CEO, leaving the job to Nonce Paolini. His salary as CEO in 2008 was estimated at €1,930,000. In July 2012, he was tried in

Nanterre Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...

for an excessive use of fixed-term contracts as CEO of TF1, and was fined €7500. After leaving TF1, Le Lay chaired the investment fund Serendipity, of which the main shareholders are

Groupe Artémis Groupe Artémis is a French investment holding company, holding with a portfolio in fashion (Kering), wine ( including Château Latour), art (Christie's, Pinault Collection), sports (Stade Rennais FC) and entertainment (Creative Artists Agency). ...

and Bouygues. In January 2010, he was removed from his position at Serendipity by

Martin Bouygues Martin Pierre Marie Bouygues (; born 3 May 1952) is the chairman and chief executive officer of the French company Bouygues, which employs around 130,000 people globally. It was founded by his father Francis Bouygues in 1952. In 2015, he was r ...

, the final move in a long series of steps by the Bouygues family to rid Le Lay of positions of power among their assets. On 7 May 2010, Le Lay was appointed as President of

Stade Rennais F.C. Stade Rennais Football Club (SRFC, ), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais () or simply Rennes,''Rennais'' and ''Stade Rennes'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, are not grammatically correct names for the club. is ...

François Pinault François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis. Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public i ...

, replacing

Frédéric de Saint-Sernin Frédéric Marie Joseph Bruno de Laparre de Saint-Sernin is a French politician and businessman, born 14 February 1958 in Reims. He was the representative of former French Co-Prince Jacques Chirac in Andorra until 2002. He was also an advise ...

, who had resigned for health reasons. On 25 June 2012, he left this position and was replaced by de Saint-Sernin. Patrick Le Lay died on 18 March 2020 at the age of 77.

Decorations

*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 society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(2008). He earned Knight on 31 December 1993, Officer on 31 December 2002, and finally Commander on 21 March 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Lay, Patrick 1942 births 2020 deaths French engineers People from Saint-Brieuc French television executives French people of Breton descent Commanders of the Legion of Honour HEC Paris alumni