Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, has died aged 96. Le Pen, who led the party for nearly four decades until 2011, when it was called National Front (FN), had previously been taken to hospital with suspected heart problems.

Controversy was Le Pen's constant companion: accusations of racism and antisemitism dogged the National Front from when he co-founded the party.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of Marine Le Pen and the defining figure of France’s postwar far-right movement, has died at the age of 96, according to French network BFMTV.

PARIS (AP) — Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-right National Front who was known for fiery rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism that earned him both staunch supporters and widespread condemnation, has died. He was 96.

He ran unsuccessfully for the French presidency five times, riding waves of discontent and xenophobia as the leader of the National Front party.

The founder of France's National Rally party, and father of Marine Le Pen, pioneered Trump-style populist, anti-immigrant politics.

Jean-Marie Le Pen died at the age of 96. He married Pierrette Lalanne on June 29, 1960. The couple had three daughters -- Marie-Caroline, Yann, and Marine Le Pen. However, their marriage ended in divorce on March 18,

Over 1,000 people attended a memorial ceremony in central Paris for the founder of France’s main far-right party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last week at the age of 96

The memorial for Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was known for his racist and antisemitic remarks, comes as the National Rally has become the driving force in French politics.

Marine Le Pen was overcome with emotion while attending the memorial service in honour of her father, far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, in Paris today - days after she said she would 'never forgive herself' for kicking him out of the party he founded.

She transformed her father's National Front in the 2010s, renamed it the National Rally, and made it one ... In an interview in 1987, Jean-Marie Le Pen referred to the Nazi gas chambers as a ...