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The founder of the French National Front party (now named National Rally), Jean-Marie Le Pen, has died at the age of 96 at a care facility “surrounded by his loved ones,” his family said in a statement cited by national media.
Born in 1928 to a fisherman and a seamstress, Le Pen worked in numerous occupations throughout his life, including fisherman, deep-sea miner, and apartment surveyor. He also volunteered for the French Foreign Legion’s parachute regiment twice, and was involved in the Suez conflict in 1956 and the Algerian War of 1957.
He started his political career in the 1950s and was elected to the French National Assembly twice between 1956 and 1962 before founding his own party, the National Front, in 1972.
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