François Patriat, the senator for Côte-d'Or, died on Wednesday August 19 at the age of 83, according to a report by BFMTV. He had been hospitalized since July 17, when he was found unconscious next to his bicycle near Pouilly-en-Auxois at around 5pm and rushed to the CHU in Dijon. The precise circumstances of the crash have not been made public, and an investigation has been opened to establish what happened.
Patriat represented Côte-d'Or in the Senate for close to eighteen years, after sixteen years as a member of the National Assembly. He attended the launch of the En Marche movement in 2016 and went on to found the pro-Macron group inside the Senate, remaining one of the president's most consistent supporters through two terms.
Earlier in his career he served as Secretary of State for Commerce and Artisanat and held a brief spell as Minister of Agriculture under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. He had belonged to the Socialist Party since the 1970s before becoming, ahead of the 2017 presidential race, one of the first Socialist elected officials to publicly back Macron's candidacy.
At the end of June, Patriat had announced that he would not stand in the next senatorial elections, closing out a legislative career spanning more than three decades.
This account draws on reporting by La Dépêche.