Death of Jean Fontaine (1936-2021)
Jean Fontaine passed away at the age of 85, he is one of the White Fathers who has had an incredible impact on Tunisian culture.
Born on December 2nd, 1936 in Saint-André, he had a baccalaureate in Mathematics in 1953 then left for Algeria in 1955 as a novice for the White Fathers. He studied theology at Saint-Josephde Thibar for a year (1956-1957), then in Carthage for three years. He studied also Arabic for two years (1962-1964) in La Manouba.
Jean Fontaine spent the last years of his Arabic course at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic studies in Rome. Then he got his licence in Arabic from the University of Tunis in 1968.
He was curator of the library of IBLA (Institut des belles lettres arabes) from 1968 to 1977, where he directed the prestigious journal entitled IBLA from 1977 to 1993. Finally, he obtained his PhD thesis from the University of Aix-en-Provence in 1977.
Jean Fontaine have had a great impact on Tunisian culture through his numerous works. He is also known as a committed great friend of Tunisia.
