André Santini, mayor since 1980 of Issy-les-Moulineaux and former minister, died at 85, one of his deputies announced to AFP on Monday, confirming information from Le Parisien.
In March, this center-right figure won the town hall of Issy-les-Moulineaux (70,000 inhabitants) for the eighth time, at the end of a campaign of several months led from the hospital following a fall.
“I’ve come a long way,” the octogenarian confided to his followers at the beginning of March during an exit permit according to “Le Parisien.” But “I still have a little blood to use and a piece of heart,” he added.
Mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux, deputy of Hauts-de-Seine, vice-president of the Greater Paris Metropolis, president of the powerful Syndicat des Eaux d’Ile-de-France (Sedif) since 1983, Mr. Santini – known for his humor and his love of cigars – was also secretary of state and minister delegate between 1986 and 1988, then again secretary of state of 2007 to 2009.
Under his successive mandates, Issy-les-Moulineaux notably succeeded in attracting numerous French headquarters of international companies, such as Coca-Cola or Microsoft.
The elected official was the target of a judicial investigation for harassment and sexual assault: two men who worked in Issy accused Mr. Santini for acts extending until May 2022.
“A figure in Ile-de-France political life disappears,” reacted on X the LR president of the Ile-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse.
“We owe him the total transformation of his town of Issy-les-Moulineaux which he cherished and the arrival in Ile-de-France of numerous head offices of foreign companies which he would convince one by one,” she added.
