WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Marc Henri Toureille, 86, passed away on Thursday, April 28, 2016, at the Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, in his sleep surrounded by family and friends after a day of goodbyes. His life had been shaped by world events, social awareness, simple pleasures, and love of family and community.
He was born in the city of Nimes in the south of France, on June 22, 1929, the son of Pierre Charles Toureille (a French Protestant minister) and Delie Lichtenstein Toureille. When he was 10, France was invaded and conquered by Nazi Germany. His father became a key figure in underground efforts to shepherd the Jewish targets of Nazi persecution out of France to safety under the noses of the Gestapo. Marc’s role in assisting his father’s actions shaped his social awareness for the rest of his life.
He immigrated to the United States in 1949 and found himself through a series of events in Williamstown, which he recognized immediately as a community where he could build a life for himself and a family. Finding work at Mount Hope Farm, he brought his fiancée—Micheline Richard—from France to Williamstown, where they were wed on April 8, 1950. Together, they raised two children and became pillars of the First Methodist Church of Williamstown for more than six decades.
After leaving Mount Hope Farm, he found employment at the General Cable plant on Water Street. A fervid advocate for the rights of working people, he led the effort to unionize the plant’s workers and helped found IUE Local 299 of the AFL/CIO. He also expressed his passion for social justice via numerous letters to local publications, active support for civil rights movements, and progressive political candidates. His efforts to win broader recognition for the heroic role of French Protestants in rescuing victims of xenophobic hatred during World War II led to the honoring of his father at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and a book by author Tela Zasloff. He represented his father at the U.S. Holocaust Museum’s 2Oth anniversary ceremony in Washington, D.C., where his father’s actions were publicly recognized by former President Bill Clinton and famed Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel.
He was also a proponent of life’s simplest pleasures, which included French food and wine, and raising an abundance of vegetables in his large and well-tended garden. He was a passionate fan of music from West Africa and became a familiar figure to West African musicians at numerous concerts between Montreal and Washington, D.C.
Devoted to his family, he and his wife celebrated their 66th anniversary in April. He was never happier than when he was with his four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife Micheline Toureille and their children, Elizabeth Anne Mason and Pierre Richard Toureille; his son-in-law Raymond Mason and daughter-in-law Diane Kupelian Toureille; his grandchildren, Heather Mason Herod and her husband Jonathon Herod, Lindsey Lee Mason, Andrew Raymond Mason and Marc Vahe Toureille; his great-grandchildren, Kylie Herod and Owen Herod; and his sisters Francine Paut and Ann-Marie Kessler.
Funeral notice: A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 25, at 2 p.m. at the First Congregational Church in Williamstown. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center or the North Adams Friendship Center Food Pantry. To add to the Book of Memories, visit
www.flynndagnolifuneralhomes.com.
