Once called the 'most hated man in France', Le Pen maintained that his ideas were simply 'ahead of their time'

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s main far-right party and a polarizing figure in French politics, is being buried in a private family ceremony in his hometown of La Trinité-sur-Mer in Brittany.

For years, the far-right National Rally tried to distance itself from Mr. Le Pen’s racist and antisemitic remarks. But after his death Tuesday, it hailed him as a visionary.

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.

Le Pen was convicted numerous times of antisemitism, discrimination and inciting racial violence. But the nativist ideas that propelled his popularity remain ascendant in today's France and beyond.

The church Notre-Dame du Val de Grace, in Paris, has been the scene of the tribute with a religious ceremony to the founder of the French National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last Tuesday at the age of 96.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the French far-right political party the National Front, has died aged 96, a senior party official has announced.

The founding father of France's far-right movement, Jean-Marie Le Pen, died Tuesday in a care facility after a short illness, his family said. He was 96 years old.

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.