Liliane may have known Bettencourt’s secret: that before he joined the resistance late in the conflict, he had been a Cagouliste who wrote antisemitic propaganda in a Nazi-sponsored paper, La Terre Française. In 1953, they had a daughter, Françoise, who later married Jean-Pierre Meyers and converted to Judaism. Eight other defendants, including former wealth managers for Bettencourt, were found guilty of related abuses and fined or jailed. Bettencourt was rarely seen in public after leaving the L’Oréal board in 2012. • Liliane Henriette Charlotte Bettencourt, heir and businesswoman, born 21 October 1922; died 20 September 2017

Source: The Guardian September 24, 2017 14:26 UTC