As president of APMEP, he joined André Lichnerowicz in warning the Minister of National Education that sweeping reform was urgently needed if France was to continue to have mathematicians. In 1968, together with André Frenkel and André Revuz, he proposed to Edgar Faure that an Institute for Research on Mathematics Education (IREM) be established to support the introduction of the so-called "modern mathematics" reform. In the end, three IREMs were established to begin with!
In 1969, he organized the first International Congress on Mathematical Education in Lyon (Rhône), welcoming 1,000 participants. Since then, these congresses have been held every four years, alternating with the International Congress of Mathematicians.
Passionate about teaching and adored by his students, he threw himself into countless activities. After helping to found the publishing house Cédic (later Cédic-Nathan), he devoted himself to publishing by establishing Aléas, which brought out mathematics books, novels and essays, and later launched the paperback imprint Alteréditions.
He passed away on Monday, May 3, in his 90th year, in Dordogne, where he had been living for several months.
