Jacques Chirac, a two-term French president who was the first leader to acknowledge France's role in the Holocaust and was outspoken in his opposition to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, has died at age 86.
His son-in-law Frédéric Salat-Baroux said that Chirac died Thursday "peacefully, among his loved ones." He did not give a cause of death, though Chirac had had repeated health problems since leaving office in 2007.
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Chirac was long the standard-bearer of France's conservative Right and mayor of Paris for nearly two decades. He was nicknamed "Le Bulldozer" early in his career for his determination and ambition. As president from 1995 to 2007, he was a consummate global diplomat but failed to reform the economy or defuse tensions between police and minority youths that exploded into riots across France in 2005.
Under his presidency, France entered into the single European currency and abolished compulsory military service. Chirac also cut the presidential term of office from seven to five years.
