Historian Aileen Carrier Dancos, the first woman to head the French Academy specialized in Russia, died Saturday in Paris at the age of 94, according to her children, Agence France-Presse.
The family statement stated that Carrier Dancos "passed away peacefully surrounded by her family members."
The historian, who was appointed permanent secretary of the Académie Française in 1999, is the author of numerous biographies, including of Lenin, Stalin and the Russian Empress Catherine II.
In 1978, she wrote L'Empire eclate, anticipating the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which was experiencing difficulties with ethnic minorities.
French President Emmanuel Macron Carrier Dancos mourned on the "X" platform (formerly Twitter), saying that she was a "great historian" whose "legacy will remain eternal."
Ellen Carrier Dancos was born in Paris on July 6, 1929, to the Georgian philosopher George Zurabishvili, who emigrated to France (he was later assassinated), and an Italian mother.
She obtained French citizenship in 1950, and two years later she married Louis Carrere, who was working in the insurance field, and had three children, including writer Emmanuel Carrere.
Carrier Dancos also had a political career, as she was elected to the European Parliament in June 1994.
