TV Host Pierre Marcotte Dies From COVID-19

Beloved Quebec TV host Pierre Marcotte has died following a battle with COVID-19. Marcotte, well recognized in Quebec as a host and businessman, passed away on Wednesday, July 13 after he was hospitalized at the à l’Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Productions Martin Leclerc confirmed in a press release, according to local outlets. It is unclear if Marcotte was vaccinated. He was 83.

Born in Joliette in 1938, according to CTV News, Marcotte began his decades-long career as a radio host while taking dramatic arts classes. He held positions in Granby, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec before he became one of the main hosts of the popular Montreal radio station CKVL. His radio career soon gave way to a successful career in television, with Marcotte eventually beginning to host variety shows with Claude Pollard. He notably hosted variety and quiz shows including Les Tannants, which was broadcast on Télé-Métropole in the 1970s. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he also hosted several other programs on TV networks like TVA and TQS. Marcotte was expected to return to the stage in September for the show Les après-midi de Pierre Marcotte at the Montreal casino.

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Per Awani Review, in addition to his radio and TV career, Marcotte also was a successful businessman who managed several restaurants. In addition to being the owner of the Boucherie establishment in Old Montreal, he was also the manager of the famous Hélène-de-Champlain restaurant, which closed in 2010.

News of Marcotte’s passing was met with an outpouring of tributes. Reacting to news of his passing, one person wrote on Twitter, “R.I.P. Pierre Marcotte.” Another person sent their “condolences to the family and loved ones” of Marcotte. Somebody else remembered Marcotte as “a very charming gentleman,” with another person writing in a translated tweet, “Pierre Marcotte is deceased, a part of my youth (Les Tannants) which flies away.”

Marcotte is survived by his wife Denise Plouffe and his two sons, Pascal, from his first marriage to Ginette Ravel, and Bruno-Pierre, from his marriage to Shirley Théroux. Marcotte initially met Terroux while hosting Les Tannants. Funeral arrangements for Mercotte have not been announced at this time.