After the end of his tenure, he briefly held a Ministerial position himself as technocrat in the government of Gaston Eyskens.
Léon "Léo" Pétillon was born in Esneux in Belgium's Province of Liège on 22 May 1903 and studied Law at the Catholic University of Leuven, graduating with a doctorate.
[1] In February 1939, Pétillon asked to be posted to the Belgian Congo and received a position as chef de cabinet for the Governor-General, Pierre Ryckmans.
He was posted to the Belgian United Nations Trust Territory of Ruanda-Urundi in July 1949 with overall responsibility for its administration.
[2] As Governor-General, he received the visit of King Baudouin to the Congo in 1955 and worked on plans to create a "Belgian-Congolese Community" which would bring Belgians and Congolese into a more egalitarian relationship.
[5] In 1958, Pétillon himself became Minister of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi as a technocrat in the Christian Social Party minority government of Gaston Eyskens and started work on a project of colonial reform.
In November, however, Eyskens brought the Liberals into the coalition and Maurice Van Hemelrijck [nl] replaced Pétillon as minister.