Senator Reg Jeune
Senator Reg Jeune
Reg Jeune was one of the most prominent and highly respected States Members of the second half of the 20th century and a founder of one of the Island's leading law firms. He died at the age of 94 in 2015
A devout Methodist, lay preacher and a humanitarian, Reg Jeune also worked actively for charities and youth organisations, and promoted Anglo-French and Anglo-Dutch relations, receiving honours from both countries.
Mr Jeune was a founder member of law firm Mourant, de Feu and Jeune in 1947, alongside Clifford du Feu and Oliver Mourant. Today the practice is known as Mourant's with offices in the British Virgin Isles, Cayman, Guernsey and Jersey.
He entered the States in 1962 as a Deputy for St Helier No 3, becoming a Senator ten years later.
During his 35 years in the States he was President of Education, Finance and Economics and Policy and Resources and in 1995 he was made a CBE for services to the States.
In addition to his legal and political careers, Mr Jeune was an astute businessman. He served on the board of the Trustee Savings Bank - being made an OBE in 1974 for his services. He was also a States representative on the board of Jersey Electricity.
Education proposals
Jerripedia editor Mike Bisson, a former news editor, editor and managing director of the Jersey Evening Post became a good friend of Reg Jeune. He recalls the time when Senator Jeune had been working for some considerable time on a complete reorganisation of the island's education system, which was due to be presented to the States on a Tuesday, which would be the first day on which the report and proposition could feature in news reports, although it had been in the hands of the newspaper from the previous Friday.
- "I don't recall exactly which year this was, but I was education correspondent at the time and knew that the publication of the much-awaited report was imminent. I received a phone call from Senator Jeune's secretary, inviting me to meet him on the Thursday afternoon two weeks before the scheduled presentation of the report. I presumed that this was to provide me with background information to go with the publication of the report's details.
- "When I arrived for the meeting Reg pointed to a document on his desk and said 'that's my report being lodged on Tuesday week: I can't let you see it yet, but I want you to ask me questions about it'. This seemed a very strange arrangement, but Reg explained that there would be a number of other important announcements by States Committees on the Tuesday and he did not want the importance of his proposals to be lost on a busy news day. He hoped that following an extensive interview and without having had sight of the report itself. I could piece together a major news item to appear in the week before the embargo on the report's contents would be lifted.
- "And so it happened. I already knew a reasonable amount about what the report would contain, and Reg fed me questions and then answered them to provide further detail. The article was published midweek before the official documents arrived at the newspaper's and other media offices. There was nothing else of sufficient importance that day to steal any of Reg Jeune's thunder."
Family tree
