Alphonse Gasnier-Duparc

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Alphonse Henri Gasnier-Duparc (21 June 1879 – 10 October 1945) was a French politician from Saint-Malo. He served as mayor of Saint-Malo (1912–1941), a senator for Ille-et-Vilaine (1932–1940), and Naval Minister in the first Popular Front government (1936–1937). He received several honors, including the Légion d'honneur, Croix de Guerre, Mérite maritime, Mérite agricole and Palmes académiques.

Born to Alphonse Charles and Anne Marie Antoinette Robidou, he studied in Saint-Malo and then law at the Université de Rennes, becoming a lawyer in Saint-Malo. He began public service as a municipal councillor in 1908, then progressed to arrondissement councillor in 1910 and general councillor in 1913, later serving as vice-president (1930) and president (1935–1937) of the General Council.

Gasnier-Duparc was mayor of Saint-Malo from 19 May 1912 until 3 July 1941, when the German occupation dismissed him. The town was heavily damaged during liberation in 1944; in November 1944 he became president of the special delegation managing the town.

In the Senate, he was elected on 12 June 1932 and re-elected on 12 January 1933, representing the radical-socialist party aligned with the democratic left, serving until 1940. He became Naval Minister on 4 June 1936 in the first Blum cabinet, with Blancho as under-secretary of state for the navy. After the cabinet fell in 1937, he returned to the Senate. On 10 July 1940 he voted to grant Marshal Pétain authority to draft a new constitution, which ended the Third Republic and established Vichy France. On 23 January 1941 he became a member of the National Council of Vichy France.