Michel Jambu passed away in Nice on Friday, October 2, 2026.
Born in 1942, he obtained his third cycle doctorate at the University of Nantes in 1970 and a Master in Economics at the University of Montréal in 1979. He then obtained his Doctorat d'État at Nantes in 1989, with a thesis on hyperplane arrangements, topology, geometry and combinatorics. The committee consisted of Pierre Vogel, Chair, (Paris 7), Pierre Cartier (IHÉS) and Kyoji Saito (RIMS, Kyoto), reviewers, Peter Orlik (Wisconsin), Hiroaki Terao (Wisconsin and Metropolitan University of Tokyo), JC Tougeron (Rennes) and D. Leborgne (Nantes), members.
He was appointed as a Professor in Nantes in 1991 and promoted first class in 1992 by the National Committee of the Universities. He transferred to Nice in 2007.
From 1982 to 1988 he was responsible for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs cooperation project at Wuhan University in China. This is where we first met. Back to Nantes, he headed the mathematics laboratory from 1997 to 2000.
He was Director of CIMPA from 2000 to 2008. An overview of CIMPA's activities during this period is available on its website.
He played a major role in broadening the scope of CIMPA's activities. Before he became Director, organising schools was almost its only activity. Under its leadership, CIMPA developed a much wider range of initiatives. CIMPA's President at that time, Mario Wschebor, initiated funding from countries other than France, beginning with Spain.
Under Michel Jambu's leadership, CIMPA Schools and seminars were held for the first time in the Middle East: Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran. He taught in the Master program of the Lebanese University in Beirut and established the MA3N network (Mathematical Analysis and Application Arab Network ) in the Middle East.
Further ahead in Asia, he launched CIMPA's activities in Pakistan. His report on his mission there from 1 to 17 February 2007 was useful for pursuing these activities.
In 2003, he met the only two mathematicians from Cambodia who then held a doctorate - today now there are some 15 of them- who asked him to help reconstructing the mathematical school in their country. He then launched the master program in Cambodia which took place from 2005 to 2016.
He contributed to develop the activities of CIMPA in Latin America, where he was a representative of INRIA's Directorate of International Affairs (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique).
He joined the Committee for Developing Countries (CDC) of the European Mathematical Society in 2002 and remained an associate member. Within the International Mathematical Union, he served on the Executive Committee concerned with Developing Countries in 2003 and subsequently on the Developing Countries Strategy Group (DCSG) from 2007 te 2010.
In 2003, he also served as a chargé de mission at the French Ministry of National Education within the MSTP (Mission Scientifique, Technique et Pédagogique).
An interview of him, recorded in Lahore in 2009 while he was teaching a course in the International Mathematics Master, is available on the website.
We were planing two schools for 2028: a SEAMS (South East Asian Mathematical Society) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with Chan Roath and an EMA (École Mathématique Africaine) in Bamenda, Cameroon. I hope that both projects will take place.
The CIMPA extends its sincere condolences to his family, especially to his wife Madeleine.
Michel Waldschmidt
