Marcel Flouret
Marcel Flouret | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 29, 1892 |
| Died | November 29, 1971 (aged 79) |
| Occupation(s) | Engineer, military officer, civil servant |
| Known for | Chairman of Électricité de France (1952–1962), Chairman of SNCF (1946–1949), Governor of Banque de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie (1949) |
Marcel Flouret (born March 29, 1892 – died November 29, 1971) was a distinguished French engineer, military officer, civil servant, participant in the French Resistance, and served as the fourth Chairman of Électricité de France (EDF) from 1952 until 1962.
Career
Flouret completed his studies at the prestigious École Polytechnique in 1912. His military career spanned four years, during which he attained the rank of Captain by 1920 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre with four commendations. Between 1920 and 1925, he engaged in aviation missions across Austria and Hungary and held a teaching position at the War College in Warsaw. In 1925, he shifted to a civil role within the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance, serving as Deputy Chief of Staff under Joseph Caillaux and subsequently left active military service that same year.
Throughout the period from 1925 to 1944, Flouret occupied multiple governmental posts, notably acting as Chief of Staff to Finance Minister Vincent Auriol in 1936 and later as Director of Staff when Auriol was Minister of Justice in 1937. During World War II, he was mobilized with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and took on responsibilities as director of staff for Blocus Georges Monnet and Bertrand Pujo in 1940.
Operating under the pseudonym Fevrier within the French Resistance, Flouret was instrumental in the liberation of Paris City Hall on August 20, 1944. Following this, he was appointed Prefect of the Seine Department starting September 1944, with Edgar Pisani serving as his chief of cabinet.
In the post-war era, Flouret assumed several prominent leadership roles: Honorary Prefect of Seine (1946), Chairman of the national railway company SNCF from 1946 to 1949, Governor of the Banque de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie in 1949, and subsequently Chairman of EDF between 1952 and 1962. During his tenure at EDF, he oversaw major investments pivotal to France’s electrification reconstruction efforts. Upon retirement from this position, he was granted an honorary chairmanship.
Marcel Flouret passed away in Mougins in 1971.
Awards
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (awarded January 15, 1954)
- Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (awarded March 26, 1962)
- Medal of Freedom
- Croix de Guerre (awarded during World War I)
Publications
- Marcel Flouret, Une société nationale d'économie mixte : la SNCF, SNCF, 1949 (Conference held in Rennes)