Philippe Fémel, director of the Chanoine Fréres and Tsarine champagne houses, is dead. According to international media reports, the 66-year-old died in a traffic accident in Reims on 5 September.
According to media reports, Fémel was hit by a car when he was crossing the road on foot not far from his home in Rue Jacquart in the centre of Reims. He was so badly injured that he died at the scene of the accident. The driver of the car initially fled, but later turned himself in to the police. He must answer for negligent homicide.
In a joint statement, Bruno Paillard, general manager of the Lanson BCC group, to which Chanoine Fréres and Tsarine belong, and Franck Coste, general manager of Chanoine Fréres, expressed their grief and dismay at the death of Philippe Fémel and praised him as a "committed man of strong character, universally respected". Fémel, who came from Normandy, joined Chanoine Fréres in 1998. He leaves behind a daughter.