29. French Head of State Fittingly Dies While Having His Way With His Mistress
It seems fitting and apt that if a president were to ever die while getting it on with a mistress, that president should be French. That was the case with Felix Faure (1841 – 1899), who was President of France from 1895 until his death four years later, when his coitus was interrupted by a massive seizure. He basically came and went at the same time.
A self-made man, Faure was the son of a small furniture maker. As a young man, he worked as a tanner, then became a successful and very wealthy industrialist and merchant in Le Havre. He was elected that city’s mayor, and at age 40, he was elected to the National Assembly as a member of the Left. He focused his attention on economics, the French Navy, and railways. Faure held a series of undersecretary positions in the 1880s and became a cabinet minister in 1894. The following year, he was unexpectedly elected president when the incumbent resigned, and Faure was chosen as a compromise candidate who had not offended anybody who mattered.
