PARIS (AP) — The Latest on former French President Jacques Chirac's death (all times local):

12:35 p.m.

European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says that the European Union has lost one of the strongest defenders of European unity with the death of former French President Jacques Chirac.

Juncker said that Chirac will leave an indelible mark on the EU, and added that he was also losing a "dear personal friend."

In a statement Thursday, Juncker said that Chirac's "legacy for France and the EU will stay with us forever."

12:15 p.m.

Jacques Chirac, a two-term French president who was the first leader to acknowledge France's role in the Holocaust and defiantly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, has died at age 86.

His son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux told The Associated Press that Chirac died Thursday "peacefully, among his loved ones." He did not give a cause of death, though Chirac had had repeated health problems since leaving office in 2007.

Chirac was long the standard-bearer of France's conservative right, and mayor of Paris for nearly two decades. He was nicknamed "Le Bulldozer" early in his career for his determination and ambition. As president from 1995-2007 he was a consummate global diplomat but failed to reform the economy or defuse tensions between police and minority youths that exploded into riots across France in 2005.