Josée and René de Chambrun Foundation

Recognized by the French government as a nonprofit organization on October 19, 1959, the Foundation was founded by René de Chambrun (1906-2002),[1] a lawyer at the Court of Appeals of Paris and of the New York State Bar Association and a descendant of Lafayette, as well as a Chevalier (knight) of the Légion d'honneur and honorary president of the Sons of the American Revolution in France, and his wife, Josée Laval (1911-1992), the only daughter of Pierre Laval.

The original administrators of the Foundation included Maurice Renand, a tax inspector who was the son of Georges–Eugène Renand, chairman of the la Semeuse de Paris, the first manager of La Samaritaine, chair of the Cognac-Jay Foundation, director of the administrative services of the Presidency of the Council in 1942 and a close collaborator of Pierre Laval (1943-1944).

The seat of the organization was changed by decree from Courpalay, Seine-et-Marne to au 6 bis, place du Palais Bourbon, 75007, in Paris, on December 18, 2003.

The main goal of the foundation was the historic preservation of the Château de la Grange-Bléneau, the home of Lafayette from 1802 until his death in 1834, and the conservation of the collections inside it.

René de Chambrun was shareholder and president; in 1989, the Foundation sold off a portion to the Taittinger Group, preserving only a minority interest.