Former French minister and businessman Bernard Tapie, known for his time in politics in the 1990s, legal scandals, the purchase and subsequent sale of the Adidas brand, or his period as president of the Olympique de Marseille football club, died this Sunday. At the age of 78, a victim of stomach cancer that he had suffered since 2017, his family reported.
At the beginning of the same month, his daughter Sophie Tapie announced that her father suffered from a double cancer of the stomach and esophagus with which he had been fighting for four years.
“Dominique Tapie and her children have the infinite pain of announcing the death of her husband and father of all of them, Bernard Tapie, on Sunday, October 3 at 8.40 am, as a result of cancer,” says the statement sent. On his Instagram account, Stéphane Tapie, one of the former businessman’s sons, confirmed the news with a short message, “Au revoir mon Phénix”, captioning a black and white photo of him and his father.
At the end of September, Olympique de Marseille fans, on the occasion of the UEFA Europa League Group E soccer match between Olympique de Marseille and Galatasaray AS at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille, southern France, showed from the stands a banner in support of the former president of the Marseille team.
Bernard Tapie expressed his wish to be buried in Marseille, his city of the heart.
Bernard Tapie Biography
Bernard Tapie was born on January 26, 1943, in Paris. Coming from a modest background, his father is a worker and his mother is a caregiver. After his military service, he started in business with the sale of televisions and then the management of a store at the end of the 60s. A shrewd businessman, he became a business buyer and bought out companies that had filed for bankruptcy (Terraillon, La Vie Claire, Wonder, etc.).
His rise was meteoric, he then distinguished himself in the management of sports clubs, accompanied the winner of the Tour de France in 1985, and bought OM. Very popular, Bernard Tapie became a media personality, guest of television sets, and elected Man of the Year in 1984 by the media. In the early 90s, he became director and owner of the sports equipment manufacturer Adidas, then on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1993, the company is flourishing again and Bernard Tapie decides to sell Adidas.
At the same time, he launched a new challenge and became involved in politics at the end of the 1980s, he was thus elected deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône (1989–1996), European deputy (1994–1997), and appointed Minister of the City (1992–1993).
During the 90s, the entrepreneur encountered many problems with the law (Adidas affair, OM-VA affair, Phocéa affair, etc.). Bernard Tapie then chooses to retrain and starts a career as an actor. He landed many roles; at the theater ( Flight over a cuckoo’s nest, A beautiful bastard, Oscar, The roller coasters …) and on television ( Cazas, Commissioner Valence …).
The 2000s saw its return to the business world. In 2012, he notably became a shareholder of the Hersant Media group and set about restructuring the newspaper La Provence.
On June 10, 2021, Franz-Olivier Giesbert publishes the book Bernard Tapie – Lessons of life, death, and love, in which the journalist reviews the double cancer of the stomach and esophagus of the former man of the case, but also on his assault in April 2021 and on his trial in the Crédit Lyonnais arbitration case.
On the private side, in May 1987, Bernard Tapie married Dominique Mialet-Damianos, of Greek origin, for a second marriage. The couple has two children, Sophie (1988) and Laurent. Bernard Tapie has two other children, Nathalie and Stéphane, born from his marriage to Michèle Layec.
In September 2017, his wife Dominique confirmed that he had stomach cancer.
On the night of April 3 to 4, 2021, Bernard Tapie and his wife Dominique were violently attacked by burglars at their home in Combs-la-Ville in Seine-et-Marne. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation following this attack. On April 5, 2021, Stéphane Tapie posted photos of the swollen faces of his father and stepmother on social networks.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
