Raymond Barre, who died on 25 August, 2007 in Paris at the age of 83, was a former Prime Minister of France and a renowned economist who could easily have become the country’s president.

A conservative, he served his post from 1976 to 1981 and wrote “Political Economy,” a 1950s university text book that is still widely used in France today.

Touted as “France’s best economist” by then-president Giscard d'Estaing, Mr Barre liked to refer to himself as an academic rather than a politician and once said he had “a square mind in a round body”.

Nevertheless he stood for the French presidency in 1988 and although he was eliminated in the first round, he came close to ousting Jacques Chirac as the centre-right candidate to take on the socialist incumbent Francois Mitterand.

Raymond Barre was born on 12 April, 1924, on the Indian Ocean Island of Reunion, which has been one of France’s overseas departments since 1946.

He started his academic life in Paris, where he graduated in economics and political science at the Institut d'Études Politiques in 1950. His then taught in Tunis between 1951 and 1954, before being appointed professor at the University of Caen from 1954 to 1963. It was during this period, in 1955, that he wrote “Political Economy”.

In 1959 he joined the private office of the industry minister Jean-Marcel Jeanneny, and worked for the French national plan. He was then dispatched by President de Gaulle to Brussels where he became a vice-president responsible for economic affairs, and wrote the Barre plan which became part of the Werner report for monetary stability in Europe.

In 1976 he was appointed foreign trade minister, and then following Jacques Chirac’s resignation became Prime Minister.

Some of his policies were disliked by the public, as his efforts to cut inflation and divert money into investment saw a rise in unemployment. However, Mr Barre managed to reassure the electorate enough to win an election in the spring of 1978.

However, this proved to be the peak of his political career, as his public profile was tarnished after he commented on the bombing of a Paris synagogue in 1980, saying that it was “aimed at Israelites going to the synagogue and hit innocent French people."

Yet, people did appreciate his ability to speak his mind and he was often in demand as a speaker and had a network of supporters.

His unsuccessful presidential bid in 1988 was not the end of his career, as he led the conservatives in the municipal election in Lyon in 1995, where he was elected mayor.

The practising catholic, who was married to Hungarian-born Eve, loved to travel and enjoyed good food and wine- yet was never ostentatious, often expressing exasperation at the privileges enjoyed by public sector workers.

He died in the Val-de-Grâce military hospital, where he had been since April after suffering a heart attack and is survived by Eve and sons Olivier and Nicholas.

Following his death, Giscard d'Estaing said: "Raymond Barre was a statesman who pursued no personal goal but sought to ensure the well-being of our country through exceptional competence and tireless work. The political world had trouble understanding his solitary and selfless approach, which was too far from its own habits; and public opinion only belatedly realized that he was in fact working for their own good."

President Nicolas Sarkozy called him "a free and independent spirit" and "a unique personality."