Joseph Comiti

Joseph Comiti (4 June 1920 to 10 November 2000) was a French physician, surgeon and politician, born in Sotta and died in Bastia. He worked as a gastroenterological surgeon and was an associate professor at the faculty of medicine, practising at the Timone hospital in Marseille. He entered national politics as a deputy for the Bouches-du-Rhône department, a seat he held from 1968 to 1981. Under Presidents Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou he served as Secretary of State for Youth, Sports and Leisure from July 1968 to April 1973 and again during 1974, and as Minister for Parliamentary Relations between April 1973 and February 1974. As sports secretary he led a programme called Operation 1,000 pools, which produced some 600 to 700 new swimming pools across the country, among them 183 of the sunflower type. Until 1998 he chaired the finance committee of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.