# Roger Laroque

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Roger_Laroque
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Roger_Laroque.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Laroque
> Source revision: 1277363097
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|New Caledonian politician (1910–1985)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Roger Laroque
| image = 

| office1 = Member of the [Territorial Assembly](/source/Congress_of_New_Caledonia)
| term1 = 1972–1984
| constituency1 = South

| office2 = Mayor of [Nouméa](/source/Noum%C3%A9a)
| term2 = 1953–1985
| predecessor2 = [Henri Sautot](/source/Henri_Sautot)
| successor2 = [Jean Lèques](/source/Jean_L%C3%A8ques)

| birth_date = 5 October 1910
| birth_place = [Nouméa](/source/Noum%C3%A9a), New Caledonia
| death_date = {{death date and age|1985|11|17|1910|10|5|df=y}}
| death_place = [Nouméa](/source/Noum%C3%A9a), New Caledonia
}}thumb|right|Statue of Laroque outside Nouméa City Hall

'''Roger Laroque''' (5 October 1910 – 17 November 1985) was a [New Caledonia](/source/New_Caledonia)n businessman and politician. He served as mayor of [Nouméa](/source/Noum%C3%A9a) from 1953 to 1985 and as a member of the [Territorial Assembly](/source/Congress_of_New_Caledonia) from 1972 to 1984.

==Biography==
Laroque was born in [Nouméa](/source/Noum%C3%A9a) in 1910,<ref name=POR>Patrick O'Reilly (1980) ''Calédoniens: répertoire bio-bibliographique de la Nouvelle-Calédoni'', p216</ref> the son of Gabriel Laroque,<ref>''Pacific Islands Year Book and Who's who - issue 10'', p606</ref> a businessman and member of the New Caledonian General Council. He attended La Pérouse College and studied law in [Bordeaux](/source/Bordeaux).<ref name=POR/> He subsequently worked at [Crédit Lyonnais](/source/Cr%C3%A9dit_Lyonnais) in Bordeaux and then at Société Ballande, returning to New Caledonia in 1937.<ref name=POR/> He joined the French Army during [World War II](/source/World_War_II) and served in France from 1944, returning to New Caledonia in 1947 and rejoining {{ill|Établissements Ballande|fr}}, becoming director then director general in 1956.<ref name=POR/> He also became chief executive of Chalandage, president of Forges et Chantiers de l'Océanie and a member of the board of directors of the Port Authority.<ref name=POR/>

Laroque entered politics in 1947 when he was elected to Nouméa City Council on the list of mayor [Henri Sautot](/source/Henri_Sautot). He became Sautot's first assistant and succeeded him as mayor following the 1953 elections.<ref name=POR/> He remained mayor of the city until his death over thirty years later. A staunch opponent of independence, in [1968](/source/1968_French_legislative_election) he contested the [New Caledonia constituency](/source/New_Caledonia's_1st_constituency) in the [French National Assembly](/source/National_Assembly_(France)) elections, losing to [Rock Pidjot](/source/Rock_Pidjot) of the [Caledonian Union](/source/Caledonian_Union).<ref name=POR/>

In [1972](/source/1972_New_Caledonian_legislative_election) he was elected to the Territorial Assembly from the South constituency as leader of the {{ill|Democratic and Social Agreement|fr|Entente démocratique et sociale}} (EDS).<ref name=POR/> When the EDS merged into the new [Rally for Caledonia](/source/The_Rally_(New_Caledonia)) in 1977, he became president of the new party.<ref name=POR/> He was [re-elected](/source/1977_New_Caledonian_legislative_election) to the Territorial Assembly later that year, and again in [1979](/source/1979_New_Caledonian_legislative_election).

Awarded the [Legion of Honour](/source/Legion_of_Honour),<ref name=POR/> he died of a heart attack in Nouméa in November 1985 at the age of 75.<ref name=PIM>[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-335530518/view?partId=nla.obj-335542495#page/n56/mode/1up Roger Laroque] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', January 1986, p57</ref><ref name=PIM2>[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-335530518/view?partId=nla.obj-335536946#page/n14/mode/1up Tension, violence grows in New Caledonia] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', January 1986, pp15–17</ref> He was given a state funeral,<ref name=PIM2/> and a statue of him was erected outside Nouméa City Hall the following year.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laroque, Roger}}
Category:1910 births
Category:1985 deaths
Category:Mayors of Nouméa
Category:Members of the Congress of New Caledonia
Category:New Caledonian businesspeople
Category:French Army personnel of World War II
Category:French bankers
Category:Recipients of the Legion of Honour
Category:People from Nouméa
Category:New Caledonian people of French descent

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Roger Laroque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Laroque) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Laroque?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.