Born Pierre Rémond, he bought the estate of Montmort in 1699, becoming ‘Pierre Rémond de Montmort’. Originally trained as a lawyer, he developed an interest in mathematics, which he studied privately and through correspondence. He introduced the term Pascal's triangle in his 1708 book Essay d’analyse sur les jeux de hazard, an early application of the ideas of probability. He was elected FRS in 1715 on a visit to England. He died of smallpox.

http://statprob.com/encyclopedia/PierreRemondDeMONTMORT.html Fuller biography.