Jean-Marc Giraldi, Vice-President of the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) has died at the age of 62.

Giraldi who lived in Monaco, and was a close friend of Prince Albert II, died last Thursday evening in Marseille while fighting COVID-19 in an intensive care unit.

The UIM posted this statement on their website:

The Powerboating Community, the UIM Council, Commissions and Committees Members as well as the Staff Members at the UIM headquarters in Monaco have lost an ally, a bulwark but also, and above all, a loyal friend.

Jean-Marc was one of those who preferred to remain in the shadows but who never failed to reflect the light.

This is how we can define the one who represented the Union Internationale Motonautique around the world for more than 20 years, first as UIM Treasurer and then as Administrator of the Federation, before in 2017 being appointed Vice-President of the UIM by President Raffaele Chiulli and the Council Members during the General Assembly.

The light may have gone out on Jean-Marc but we will always treasure the memory of a genuine and respected character, a man greatly appreciated by his peers.

Giraldi, was also the President of the Société nautique de Monaco, the oldest club in Monaco, where he had encouraged the sport of rowing to flourish within the principality.

He had a saying, ‘We can’t all be champions and win’, sadly, this was one competition Giraldi couldn’t win.