“He was passionate, devoted to his people”: the mayor of Garons Alain Dalmas died this Tuesday

Alain Dalmas, viticulteur, était élu à Garons depuis 54 ans. NIMES – WILLIAM TRUFFY

Maire depuis 2008, Alain Dalmas avait 79 ans.

The mayor of Garons Alain Dalmas died at the age of 79. A municipal councilor from the age of 24, in Xavier Tronc's team, this former winegrower, who was president of the Bouillargues cooperative cellar and president of the Costières brotherhood, was first deputy to Jean Yannicopoulos, before succeeding him in 2008.

The reactions were not long in coming, starting with the former MP and ex-president of Nîmes Métropole Yvan Lachaud: “He was really a friend, we were very, very close. A great person. When I was a member of parliament, we worked hard to develop his town.”

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“Even at an advanced age, he was keen to take care of the vignes”

“It is with great sadness that I have just learned of the death of Alain Dalmas, declared Franck Proust, the current president of Nîmes métropole. Mayor of Garons and member of the community office in Nîmes Métropole. Elected municipal official for over 50 years, and mayor since 2008, Alain Dalmas also held the position of vice-president within our Agglomeration. Attached to his land, to his agriculture, Alain has never ceased to promote his town and its many riches. We spoke for the last time on the occasion of the inauguration of the Francis Soirat school group, during which he still carried within him all the energy of the local elected official serving the people of Garons. To his family, his loved ones and to his entire municipal council, I extend my most sincere condolences.”

Bernard Angelras, vice-president of the Agglo, winegrower, former president of the Costières de Nîmes union, knew Alain Dalmas well, “a friend. He was passionate, a winemaker who was extremely attached to his profession. Even at an advanced age, he was keen to take care of the vines, to drive the tractor, the grape harvester. He was president of a cooperative winery, chaired the brotherhood of Costières de Nîmes. He was devoted to his community, close to its population.”

“He was very attached to his territory. He was the one who created the famous Garons feria and its legendary nighttime bullfights, remembers his first deputy Yves Rodriguez. We owe him the gymnasium, the stadium, the tennis courts… He leaves a village in full expansion, without debt.”

For the record, Alain Dalmas arrived with his parents in Garons from Marseille when he was 10 years old. As a child, he lived in the building that would later become the town hall: “My father had bought the castle and the land where he cultivated his vines,” he told us in 2021. I never had the soul of a lord of the manor, so I sold the building to a Parisian entrepreneur who was supposed to transform it into a hotel. His business failed and the municipality bought the property.”In 2011, after a renovation, the castle where Alain Dalmas grew up became the town hall. A symbol for the man who gave more than half a century of his life to serving his village.