Alternately a salt picker like his father, newspaper seller or music hall singer, Michel Montana died in the night from Monday to Tuesday, in his sleep, at the age of 92. nothing to become much later the “godfather of the balls” by organizing the Mondial La Marseillaise à pétanque where all Marseilles crowded, he left in all discretion. A romantic life, but also sometimes, as often in Marseille, a bit romanticized, worthy of a Hollywood success story with Provençal sauce. An image that he would probably not have denied, he who often compares the Marseille city to the Big Apple. “For me, Marseille has the potential to be the New York of the Mediterranean.