Facts:   - birth name: jean omer marie gabriel monnet    - party: independent    - predecessor: none      - birth date: 9 november 1888    - professsion: politician , economist , diplomat , statist    - resting place: panthéon , paris , france    - death date: 16 march 1979    - spouse: silvia de bondini 1934 1979 ; his death    - office: president and steel community of the high authority of the european coal    - term end: 3 june 1955    - name: jean monnet    - death place: houjarray , bazoches-sur-guyonne    - birth place: cognac , charente    - successor: rené mayer    - citizenship: french    - image size: 180px    - term start: 10 august 1952    - resting place coordinates: 48 : fr_type : landmark inline , title 50 46 n 2 20 45 e region    - image: jean monnet.jpg    - religion: catholic church   Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of jean monnet .
A:
jean omer marie gabriel monnet -lrb- ; 9 november 1888 -- 16 march 1979 -rrb- was a french political economist and diplomat .he is regarded by many as the chief architect of european unity and the founding father of the european union .he was the first leader of a european executive body , as president of the high authority of the european coal and steel community , and thus he is known as the `` father of europe '' .never elected to public office , monnet worked behind the scenes of american and european governments as a well-connected `` pragmatic internationalist '' .he was named patron of the 1980 -- 1981 academic year at the college of europe , in honour of his accomplishments .