Jacques A. Francois; Member of Haiti’s Governing Council

Jacques A. Francois, the only civilian and least powerful member of Haiti’s three-man National Governing Council, died Monday. He was 78 and suffered from prostate cancer.

Since January, Francois had not been present at the National Governing Council’s rare public appearances. He was widely considered to be little more than a civilian figurehead in a governing council controlled by Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy and Gen. Williams Regala.

Francois was one of the original members of the provisional government that took over after former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier fled to France on Feb. 7, 1986. In March, 1986, he was replaced as foreign affairs minister by Col. Jean-Baptiste Hilaire and appointed member without portfolio of the three-man council.

From 1950 to 1956, Francois had served in the administration of President Paul Magloire as minister of the presidency and as ambassador to several countries, the last of which was Cuba.

After dictator Francois Duvalier, Jean-Claude’s father, attained power in 1957, Francois returned to his native Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city on the country’s north coast, where he taught law and was an outspoken critic of the Duvalier regime.

The elder Duvalier ruled until his death in 1971, when he was replaced by his son.