When U.S. President Gerald Ford and leaders of the five other leading democracies gathered at a 14th-century castle outside Paris on Nov. 15, 1975, they planted the seed for what subsequently became the Group of Seven nations.

FILE - In this Aug.9 1969, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, left, as Finance Minister and Jacques Chirac as Secretary of State to Finance leave Elysee Palace, Aug. 9, 1969. (AP Photo, File)PARIS – Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the president of France from 1974 to 1981 who became a champion of European integration, died on Wednesday. Giscard d’Estaing was hospitalized last month with heart problems, but remained vigorous deep into old age. Young Giscard d’Estaing studied at the prestigious Polytechnical Institute and then the elite National School of Administration, before mastering economics at Oxford. Giscard d'Estaing “made France be proud," he said.