Léo Pétillon
Léo Pétillon | |
|---|---|
| Minister of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi | |
| In office 5 July 1958 – 6 November 1958 | |
| Monarch | Baudouin |
| Prime Minister | Gaston Eyskens |
| Preceded by | Auguste Buisseret |
| Succeeded by | Maurice Van Hemelrijck |
| Governor-General of the Belgian Congo | |
| In office 1 January 1952 – 12 July 1958 | |
| Monarch | Baudouin |
| Preceded by | Eugène Jungers |
| Succeeded by | Hendrik Cornelis |
| Governor of Ruanda-Urundi | |
| In office 19 July 1949 – 1 January 1952 | |
| Monarchs | Prince Charles (to 1950) Leopold III (1950–51) Baudouin (from 1951) |
| Governor General | Eugène Jungers |
| Preceded by | Maurice Simon |
| Succeeded by | Alfred Claeys-Boúúaert |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Léon Antoine Marie Pétillon 22 May 1903 |
| Died | 1 April 1996 (aged 92) |
Léo Pétillon (22 May 1903 – 1 April 1996) was a Belgian colonial civil servant and lawyer who served as Governor-General of the Belgian Congo (1952–1958) and, briefly, as Minister of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi (1958).
Pétillon studied Law and practiced as a lawyer, before entering the Belgian colonial service in 1929. He worked for several years at the Ministry of the Colonies in Brussels, serving as aide to a series of ministers. In 1939, he secured a posting to the Belgian Congo as aide to the Governor-General and spent most of World War II in the colony or with the Belgian government in exile in London. In 1946, Pétillon was promoted to Vice Governor-General, given responsibility for the Belgian mandate of Ruanda-Urundi. In 1952, he was promoted to the position of Governor-General himself, holding the position until 1958. After the end of his tenure, he briefly held a Ministerial position himself as technocrat in the government of Gaston Eyskens. He retired in 1959 and published several books. He died in 1996.