French economist, politician and musician Lionel Stoléru has died yesterday, aged 79. Born in 1937 in Nantes Lionel Stoléru was Economic adviser of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Secretary of State for Labour in the government of Raymond Barre and Secretary of State for Economic Planning in the government of Michel Rocard in 1988, to create the “Minimum Income Scheme” which he had proposed in one of his books. He has been responsible for the economic missions for President Nicolas Sarkozy, especially to prepare the Small Business Act under the French Presidency of the European Union, and to prepare the French G20 in 2011.
Since his early childhood, and during all his life, music took an important place. He studied piano and conducting at Stanford. At the end of his studies, he hesitated between a career in economics and a musical career. In 1991, when he left the government, he decided to resume professionally his musical activity by creating his own orchestra, the ‘European Romantic Orchestra’, specialized in the romantic repertoire. He also composed a Symphony, la Symphonie juive, in 2010.
