Elected president of the UDF in 1996, he could not prevent the split of this confederation two years later with Alain Madelin's secession.
He was born in Nice, one of seven children - four girls, then three boys, of which he was the oldest - and was the brother of politician François Léotard.
François Mitterrand | François Truffaut | Claude François | François Villon | François Rabelais | François Hollande | Jean-François Lyotard | Jean-François Millet | François-René de Chateaubriand | François Boucher | François Fénelon | François Tombalbaye | François de La Rochefoucauld (writer) | Charles François Dumouriez | François Mauriac | Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse | Jean-François Champollion | François Viète | François Ozon | François Bozizé | Louis-François Richer Laflèche | Joseph François Dupleix | Jean-François Marmontel | François-René de La Tour du Pin, Chambly de La Charce | François Denhaut | François-André Danican Philidor | Philippe Léotard | Michel François | Marie François Sadi Carnot | Louis-François Roubiliac |