The riots were rooted in longstanding feelings of discrimination and lack of economic opportunities in the heavily immigrant suburbs, as well as anger over police harassment. Mr. Chirac, who had run on the promise of healing social divisions, admitted his failure to address the problems, many of which persist.

In September of that year, Mr. Chirac had a stroke that affected his eyesight and put him in a hospital bed. Though he recovered and resumed his duties, he announced early in 2007 that he would not seek re-election. His law-and-order interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, succeeded him.

On Thursday, French officials said a national day of mourning had been declared for Monday, when a service will be held at noon in the Church of Saint Sulpice in Paris, not far from Mr. Chirac’s home. On Thursday night, the presidential palace was to open its doors to the public to allow people to write in condolence books, and President Emmanuel Macron was to give a televised speech to honor Mr. Chirac.

Mr. Chirac left a remarkable legacy in the form of the Quai Branly Museum, which was renamed the Quai Branly Jacques Chirac Museum in 2016. It holds an eclectic mix of art, sculptures and decorative pieces, many from France’s former colonies but also from pre-Columbian societies and early Japanese ones, for which Mr. Chirac had a passion.

At his death, he had largely disappeared from public view. He had been hospitalized several times. He had “memory problems” and would no longer make public appearances, his wife said in 2014.

“I have had an interesting life, full of events, and I am happy with it,” he said in an interview in 2000. He dismissed any notion that there was a secret, private Jacques Chirac. Asked by a reporter, “Who is Jacques Chirac?,” he replied: “Basically, it’s of little importance who he is in private, intimate life. It is only the political personality that should interest us.”

He added: “When one assumes a political responsibility, the essential is that he makes himself understood. But if he can make himself loved, so much the better.”