Raymond Bonnefous

Personal

Vocation

French physician, surgeon and politician from a noted family, as the son of Louis Bonnefous, surgeon and politician. For his service in the First World War, Raymond Bonnefous received the Croix de Guerre and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. He was an intern of the hospitals of Toulouse from 1919 to 1924 before practising as a surgeon in Rodez. In 1935, he was elected mayor of Rodez, a position he held until 1944. In September 1945 he was elected general councilor of the canton of Rodez, then in 1949 he succeeded Paul Ramadier as president of the General Council of Aveyron. He was elected to the Council of the Republic (Senate under the Fourth Republic) on 8 December 1946, and was re-elected general councilor in 1951 and 1958, then president of the general council in 1951, 1955 and 1958. Elected to the Senate in 1959 and 1962, he ended his career in the Senate on 1 October 1971, when his nine-year term ended. Re-elected general councilor in 1964 and 1970, he represented the new canton of Rodez-Ouest from 1973 onwards and held the presidency of the general council until 1976, when he retired from political life. He died on 5 July 1979, aged 86, in Rodez. Link to Wikipedia biography (French)