Born in Uccle on 30 May 1937, Duplat was the son of lawyer Jan Duplat and Yvonne Colson, and grew up in a bilingual Dutch-French household.[2] From 1957 to 1960, he studied at the Université de Namur and the Catholic University of Louvain, where he earned his Doctor of Laws.[3] In 1960, he joined the Barreau de Bruxelles [fr] and joined the public prosecutor's office. In October 1974, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Brussels [fr], where he headed the financial section of the public prosecutor's office.[4] In 1978, he was named president of the Commercial Court, a position in which he rejected a bid by Carlo De Benedetti for a hostile takeover of the Société Générale de Belgique worth 20 billion Belgian francs.[5]
In 1989, Duplat succeeded Walter Van Gerven at the presidency of the Belgian Banking Commission, dealing with important cases such as the takeover of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits by Accor, the tender offer for Bank Brussels Lambert, and ABN AMRO's takeover of the Générale de Banque.[4] He was succeeded by Eddy Wymeersch in 2001. After his time on the court, he held various board positions, including at Omega Pharma and Brantano Footwear.[6] He also taught business law at the Université de Namur until 2005.[7] In 2007, he succeeded Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer as president of Child Focus,[3] and was replaced by François Cornelis [nl] in 2016.[7]
Duplat died in Sint-Genesius-Rode on 9 January 2026, at the age of 88.[8]
