Daniel Richard

Born in Bagnols-sur-Cèze on 19 April 1944, Richard's mother died when he was three years old.^[2][3] The grandson of a polytechnician, he attended the École nationale de l'aviation civile from 1964 to 1966 and earned a degree in engineering.^[4]

At the age of 25, Richard began working for the firm Bossard Consultant. He was later hired by 3 Suisses, which he led ten years later.^[5] In 1997, LVMH appointed him manager of Sephora, succeeding Dominique Mandonnaud.^[6] In 2001, he became director of development and innovation of the Groupe Galeries Lafayette [fr].^[7] He was elected CEO of Nova Press in 2007, replacing Jean-François Bizot, who had died.^[8]

In 2009, Richard took over the clothing brand Souleiado with his son, Stéphane.^[9][10] In 2018, the two had a dispute and Stéphane sued his father.^[11] Daniel Richard was dismissed in 2020 in a decision made by a commercial court in Tarascon and confirmed by the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence [fr], which stated that he had displayed "behavior unsuitable for a manager".^[11] He felt "betrayed" by his son and appealed to the Court of Cassation.^[12]

In 2001, Richard succeeded Luc Hoffmann as president of the World Wide Fund for Nature - France [fr].^[13] He was succeeded by Claude Dumont in 2008.^[14] During his mandate,^[15] the L'Alliance pour la planète [fr] brought together more than 80 NGOs for the Grenelle Environnement in 2005.^[16] That same year, he launched a blood analysis campaign with volunteers in Nîmes, though no results were published.^[17]

In February 2009, Richard founded the environmental and citizens movement, Résistances,^[18] with Victor Hugo Espinoza.^[19] That year, he announced his candidacy for the European election in Île-de-France.^[20] In 2020, he announced his candidacy for the municipal council of Nîmes with support from Europe Ecology – The Greens and the Socialist Party, the Radical Party of the Left, La France Insoumise, Ecology Generation, and Cap21. He joined Yvan Lachaud of The Centrists in the party list, a move unpopular with voters, leading him to finish with only 18.62% of votes in the second round.^[21]

Daniel Richard died in Montpellier on 12 January 2023, at the age of 78.^[22]

• Knight of the Legion of Honour (1997)^[23]