Paulette Brisepierre

Brisepierre was born on 21 April 1917 in Bordeaux in Gironde. She attended Lycée Molière and Lycée Victor-Duruy in Paris. She married Baron Lionel de la Fontaine and they had seven children: François-Xavier, Claude, Patrick, Jean-Eric, Anne, Marie-Dorée and Lionel. She graduated from the University of Michigan, then decided to follow her husband, an orange exporter, to Marrakesh. When her husband died in 1961, she received an accounting degree and took over his production and export business until the company was nationalised in 1966. As a result, she created the Union of the French in Marrakesh to receive compensation from the Moroccan government. == Political career ==

She was elected to the Assembly of French Citizens Abroad in 1968, serving as president from 1974 to 1997. She was asked several times by the French government to be an advisor of the Economic and Social Council, from 1975 to 1976 in the division for economic expansion and cooperation, from 1978 to 1979 in the division for the environment and from 1987 to 1988 in the division for foreign relations. == Later life ==

She continued to serve as the honorary president of the France-Morocco friendship group in the Senate until her death on 7 July 2012 in Marrakesh at the age of 95. On her death, a national tribute was held in her honour by the Parliament of Morocco. She was honoured as a Knight of the Legion of Honour, an Officer of the Order of National Merit and a Knight of the Order of Agricultural Merit. == References ==