Jean Charpentier was a Canadian journalist who served as the press secretary for Pierre Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, from 1975 until 1979.
18 Facts About Jean Charpentier
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Jean Charpentier was nicknamed "The Count" by journalists and reporters for his "elegance" and manners.
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Fulgence Jean Charpentier had his four eldest children with his first wife, who died.
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Fulgence Jean Charpentier worked for the Canadian federal government as a diplomat and wartime censorship director during World War II.
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Jean Charpentier's father was posted to the Canadian embassy in Paris, under Georges Vanier in 1948, and was the first Ambassador to African francophonie, based in Cameroon, beginning in the 1960s.
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Jean Charpentier learned Spanish in 1953 while his father was posted at the Canadian embassy in Uruguay.
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Jean Charpentier became a television reporter for Radio-Canada, the French-language broadcaster for the CBC, in 1961, where he reported from Paris, London, Toronto and Lima, Cambodia, Vietnam, Argentina and Nigeria's breakaway region of Biafra.
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Jean Charpentier became the first foreign journalist to interview Augusto Pinochet following the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat which overthrew Salvador Allende.
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Jean Charpentier's family had connections to then Prime Minister Trudeau through his father and two brothers, who were all diplomats in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
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Jean Charpentier would serve as Pierre Trudeau's press secretary from 1975 until 1979.
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Jean Charpentier became Trudeau's press secretary at a time of increased friction between the Prime Minister and the Canadian media.
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Jean Charpentier won the respect of the press corps by balancing the competing interests of the print and broadcast media, and, more importantly, the French and English-speaking reporters.
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Jean Charpentier made sure that the same number of French speaking reporters from Quebec were called upon as the larger English-speaker contingent of reporters.
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The Canadian government asked Jean Charpentier to arrange the official papal visit by Pope John Paul II to the country.
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Jean Charpentier spent the rest of his career as a freelance translator.
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Jean Charpentier died from cancer on January 8,2010, in Ottawa at the age of 74.
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Jean Charpentier was survived by his wife, Mary Mackay, and her four children, Tina, Dwayne, Shawn and Derek.
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Jean Charpentier was survived by three siblings - Claire, Louise and Jacques - and predeceased by two brothers, Pierre and Georges.