Christophe de Margerie

Christophe de Margerie (1951 to 2014) was a French businessman who led the oil and gas company Total for nearly a decade. He became chief executive officer of Total in 2007 and added the chairmanship in 2010, holding both roles until his death. Under his leadership Total expanded its operations into Iraqi Kurdistan, Myanmar, Qatar and Russia, and he was known for his strong advocacy of maintaining business ties between Total and Russia even amid international sanctions; Russian President Vladimir Putin called him a friend of the country who had pioneered major joint energy projects between France and Russia. De Margerie died in October 2014 when his aircraft collided with a snowplow during takeoff from Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, after meetings with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/