Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet (French: [ʒɑ̃ mɔnɛ]; 9 November 1888 – 16 March 1979) 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.