Robert Poujade

Robert Poujade (6 May 1928 – 8 April 2020), born in Moulins, Allier, was a French politician. He was the first French Minister of the Environment and was mayor of Dijon from 1971 to 2001.

Biography
The son of a professor of literature, Poujade became a teacher in literature after having studied at the Ecole normale supérieure.

Initially politically active for environmental causes, and a member in the successive Gaullist parties (RPF, UNR, UDR, RPR), Poujade became the first Minister of the Environment in France in 1971. He served in the government of Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas, under the presidency of Georges Pompidou.

As an opponent to the mayor of Dijon Félix Kir, Robert Poujade ran for Member of Parliament for the first time in 1962. He succeeded only in 1967, and stayed at the parliament to 1981, year of Mitterrand's victory. He was returned at the National Assembly in year 1986 and held the post continuously until his retirement in 2002.

In Dijon, Robert Poujade entered the city council in 1968. After Felix Kir's death in 1971, he became the first Gaullist mayor of Dijon. He retired in 2001, and his successor Jean-François Bazin lost the election against François Rebsamen, who became the first Socialist mayor of the City since before the Second World War.