Pierre Marcilhacy


Pierre Marcilhacy was a French avocat and public figure. His family home in Jarnac dated back over six centuries. He fought in the French Resistance during World War II. It was then that he met his wife Gabrielle van Heutz, a Dutch woman. They had two children, a daughter, Catherine, and a son, Antoine.
He was Senator for the Charente in the Bordeaux region, sitting in the Democratic Left group. He chaired the Senat Commission revising the Code Civil. In 1965 he ran against Charles de Gaulle in the French presidential election as candidate of the European Liberal Party, a small centrist liberal group. He won 1.71% and was thus eliminated. In the runoff election he supported François Mitterrand, who was born in the same town, Jarnac. DeGaulle won the runoff. Marcilhacy is remembered as one of a number of widely diverse candidates – from both the left and the right – who stood against de Gaulle in 1965.
Marcilhavy lost his Senate seat in 1981. In 1983 Mitterrand, who had become President of France, appointed him in 1983 to the Constitutional Council, the French Court that decides all questions of constitutional law.
Under the nom de plume, Pierre Debassac , he wrote and published several novels, such as Le lion et la demoiselle and La musique de la tante Aurele.
He died in 1987.