National Rally President Jordan Bardella announced his death on Tuesday in a post on X.

“Jean-Marie Le Pen is dead. Enlisted in the uniform of the French army in Indochina and Algeria, tribune of the people in the National Assembly and the European Parliament, he always served France, defended its identity and its sovereignty. Today, I am thinking with sadness of his family, his loved ones, and of course of Marine, whose mourning must be respected,” he said, referring to Le Pen’s daughter, Marine Le Pen.

Marine Le Pen reportedly heard about her father’s death during a stop to Nairobi while on a flight back from visiting natural disaster victims on the French Indian Ocean island Mayotte.

The National Rally, though having expelled him in 2015, hailed Jean-Marie Le Pen in a statement, saying he had defended “the idea of French greatness with all his soul and at the risk of his own life.”

The Elysée released a statement, obtained by the Guardian, summarizing the French firebrand’s career: three times minister of parliament, five times presidential candidate, seven times minister of the European Parliament, regional councilor, and town councilor.

“A historic figure of the far right, he played a role in the public life of our country for nearly 70 years, which is now a matter for history to judge,” it said.

Others were less charitable, including left-wing French leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

“Respect for the dignity of the dead and the grief of their loved ones does not erase the right to judge their actions. Those of Jean-Marie Le Pen remain unbearable,” he said in a post on X. “The fight against the man is over. The fight against the hatred, racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism that he spread continues.”

Eric Zemmour, a political ally of Le Pen and rising right-wing leader, praised him as “among the first to alert France to the existential threats that awaited it” and a courageous man “when courageous men were not so numerous.”

Le Pen was described in nearly all French and global media as “far right,” though he mostly rejected the label, once declaring that he was “neither right, nor left, but French.”

His controversial and bombastic rhetoric made him the most polarizing figure in French politics, incurring legions of supporters and detractors of equal fervor.

Le Pen was born in 1928 in Brittany. His father was killed during World War II when his fishing boat was blown up by a mine in 1942. He attempted to join the Free French Forces in 1944 but was rejected due to being too young. He joined the French Foreign Legion’s paratrooper regiment, fighting in colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria. His service in Algeria was particularly controversial after he admitted to torturing insurgents.

Le Pen entered French politics after leaving the service, buoyed by his skills in oration. He founded the National Front party in 1972, a title it would hold until his daughter rebranded it to the National Rally in 2018. The party was also known for the membership of many former Vichy supporters and Nazi collaborators. One of the founding members, its first treasurer, Pierre Bousquet, served in the Waffen SS Charlemagne Division — one of the most fanatical Waffen SS divisions recognized for being among the final defenders of the Reichstag during the Battle of Berlin.

After being a nonentity in French politics for a decade, the party shot into popularity in the 1980s, as Le Pen appealed to anti-elitist and anti-immigrant feelings among the working class. It won 11% of the national vote during the European elections of 1984. The rising star was torpedoed in 1987 when Le Pen made a comment downplaying the Holocaust during a radio interview. It would take 15 years to recover the party’s position.

His own political career peaked during one of the most shocking political upsets in modern European history, in which he won enough votes to continue into the second round of the French political race in 2002. Then-Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who had laughed off the prospect of a denial of a rematch with incumbent conservative President Jacques Chirac, was so shocked that he quit politics in his concession speech, to audible wails from his supporters.

The event was described by the leading figures and newspapers of the time as a “Thunderclap,” “Earthquake,” “Bomb,” and “Shock.” More than 1 million French people took to the streets in protest, and every party urged supporters to hold their noses and vote for Chirac. The public obliged, handing Chirac the biggest landslide in modern French history in the second round. Nevertheless, the first-round upset would have a lasting impact.

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Le Pen was soon eclipsed by his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who took over the party and expelled him in 2015 for renewed controversial statements. She has since rebranded the party as more centrist, tempering its rhetoric and some positions while maintaining its stance on immigration. The party is now the single largest in France, with Marine Le Pen eyeing the presidency in 2027.

Jean-Marie Le Pen was known for his controversial statements, variously offending immigrants, leftists, Muslims, the LGBT community, Jews, and many others. His statements, particularly those downplaying the Holocaust, have resulted in several criminal convictions.