PARIS (Reuters) – Bernard Tapie, a French businessman and former Olympique de Marseille (OM) president who led the soccer club to the Champions League title in 1993, died on Sunday aged 78.
Tapie’s family, French politicians and the OM soccer club announced the death.
“Olympique de Marseille learned with deep sadness of the passing of Bernard Tapie. He will leave a great void in the hearts of the Marseillais and will forever remain in the legend of the club,” OM said in a statement.
Prime Minister Jean Castex had earlier paid tribute to Tapie, a government minister in the 1990s, describing him as a “fighter”.
Tapie, whose business interests also included a stake in sportswear company Adidas, had been suffering from stomach cancer for several years.
A charismatic president of Marseille from 1986 to 1994, he was at the helm when OM beat AC Milan 1-0 in the final of the Champions League. He was later sent to prison for corruption in a match-fixing scandal in the French first division.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Frances Kerry)
