Jean-Michel Gaillard  Jean-Michel Gaillard (May 16, 1946, Pont-Sant-Esprit in Gard, France – July 19, 2005, Paris) was a high-ranking French official. He was, most notably, director general of Antenne 2 (now France 2), from 1989 to 1991. He was a student of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, where he received a doctorate in history. As a politician he was a militant socialist, aligned with the likes of François Hollande and Ségolène Royal. He was father to two girls. Before his death from cancer at the age of 59, he was counsel for the Academy of Television Arts. During the presidency of François Mitterrand, he worked as a senior advisor at the Élysée Palace. As a television script writer he co-wrote the television film "Leclerc, a Dream of Indochina" with Nicolas Sarkozy, which debuted on France 3 in 2003. He wrote many works, including a biography of Jules Ferry, published in 1989.