Gilbert Trigano

Gilbert Trigano was born on July 28, 1920, in Montreuil-sous-Bois in the Seine department (now Val-de-Marne). Born to shopkeeper parents, his father, Raymond Trigano, opened a coffee roasting factory after the First World War, which unfortunately burned down in 1922, ruining the family. In 1935, the Trigano family (Raymond and Edgard, the eldest son) opened their first tarpaulin workshop.
Gilbert spent his childhood surrounded by five siblings. As a teenager, he dreamed of becoming an actor and even wrote scripts for a few stars.

During the Second World War, he joined the Resistance and became a communist activist until the Liberation. He wrote a few articles for newspapers such as L'Humanité and L'Avant-Garde but was censored. Disgusted, he abandoned this world and joined the family business.

After meeting Gérard Blitz quite by chance in 1950 (Gilbert answered the phone when Gérard called to rent tents), he officially joined the club in 1953, serving as treasurer of the Club Méditerranée association.
In 1955, when both Club Méditerranée and Club des Villages Magiques were experiencing payment difficulties, he facilitated the merger of the two clubs, transforming them into a limited company with variable capital. (The company Trigano Pères & Fils rented the tents to both holiday clubs).

Gilbert TRIGANO took over the management of Club Méditerranée SA in 1963 and became the CEO.

Towards the end of his life, he carried out government functions and from 1983 held the position of delegate to Prime Minister Laurent FABIUS where he was in charge of new training programs and became involved in the creation of computer workshops for young people.

Gilbert Trigano died during the night of February 3-4, 2001. A long illness, as they say, took him. He is buried in Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.

The children

Gilbert is the father of four children (Serge, Lydie, Sylvie, and Brigitte).
Serge joined the club as a traffic manager in 1963 in Corfu, a village he returned to in 1970 as village chief. During the 1980s, he became director of the American zone before Gilbert handed over the presidency of the Club to him in 1993. He held this position until July 17, 1997, when he was removed from office.

In the 2000s, he co-founded the company Serge Trigano & Sons with his sons Jeremy and Benjamin. Its purpose was to develop and market hotel concepts. This led to the opening of the first Mama Shetler hotel in September 2008 on Rue de Bagnolet in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Today, Mama Shetler has six hotels located in France and abroad (Paris 20th arrondissement, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Los Angeles, and Istanbul). Other locations are planned, such as one at Porte de Versailles in Paris.

Lydie also became a GO. She set up the Forums in the villages which allowed GMs to meet guest artists in a relaxed atmosphere, attend debates, shows, photo exhibitions…. The Splendid troupe, François de CLOSET, the filmmaker Youssef CHAHINE will be among those who will pass through these forums.

Sylvie takes over the management of the Club Med seminar division, "Club Med Business".