Jean Frydman (26 June 1925 – 14 March 2021) was aJewish member of theFrench Resistance during World War II and businessman. He received theLégion d'honneur in 2016 for his wartime efforts.
DuringWorld War II, at the age of 15 he rallied theFrance libre (Free France).[1] In the summer of 1944, he escaped from the deportation train that was taking him and many others from theDrancy internment camp toBuchenwald. One of the deportees in the same train car wasMarcel Dassault.[2] For his brave patriotism, he was bestowed theLégion d'honneur by thePresidentFrançois Hollande in May 2016.
He was among the first managers of radio stationEurope 1 between 1957 and 1962; he headedTélé Monte Carlo, and was then director of the advertising agencyRégie n°1. He was dubbed "the secret gardener of the French audiovisual sector".
After having been forced to leave the Board of Paravision, audiovisual branch ofL'Oréal, he revealed[3] the past life ofAndré Bettencourt during WW2,[4] forcing him to express regrets about "past mistakes".[5]
Since resisting the Nazis' control over France in his teens, Frydman spent his life following, advocating liberty and peace. That led him to become involved at the highest level of negotiation between Israel and Palestine, as he advisedShimon Peres,Yitzhak Rabin, andEhud Barak. As such, he was instrumental in starting theOslo Peace Accords. Frydman served as a member of the advisory board of theIsrael Council on Foreign Relations.
Jean Frydman had six children, ten grandchildren, and was married to his third wife, Daniela Frydman at the time of his death. He was a friend of former French PresidentValéry Giscard d'Estaing, former Israeli PresidentShimon Peres, former Israeli Prime MinisterEhud Barak, and former IMF Managing DirectorDominique Strauss-Kahn.
Frydman died inSavyon, Israel, on 14 March 2021, at the age of 95.[6]
