Daniel, Baron Cardon de Lichtbuer (16 November 1930 – 26 July 2022) was a Belgian businessman, mainly active in the Belgian banking sector.

Education

He obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in law (1953) and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

degree (1955) from the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Career

Cardon started his career as an assistant to the dean of the School of Business administration at the University of Louvain 1955/1958. In 1958 he joined the European Commission in Brussels as one of their first international civil servants. From 1960 to 1967 he was head of the staff of Albert Coppé, vice-president of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community and from 1967 to 1973 he was head of the Cabinet of the Belgian European Commissioner. In 1973 he received the title of honorary director general of the European Commission. He started his banking career at the

Bank Brussels Lambert Bank Brussels Lambert (BBL, ) was a prominent Belgian bank that was created in 1975 through the merger of Banque de Bruxelles and Banque Lambert, and was eventually acquired in 1998 by ING Group; however the name survived as part of Groupe Bru ...

in 1973, where he became president and CEO in 1992 and upon his retirement in 1996 was made honorary president. He was also chairman of the board of Nationale Suisse Belgium (insurance) and vice president of Bank Liechtenstein. He had been the president of the Association of the Belgian Bankers, vice president of the Belgian Employers Federation, chairman of the board of Thomas Cook Traveller Cheques, president of the European Financial Marketing Association (Paris) and member of the board of

AVIS Europe Avis Europe plc is a United Kingdom-based company which holds the licence to operate the two main vehicle rental brands of Avis Budget Group (Avis Car Rental and Budget Rent a Car) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as Asia in the c ...

(London). Besides his professional activities, he was also executive president of

Europa Nostra Europa Nostra (Latin for "Our Europe") is a pan-European Federation for cultural heritage, Cultural Heritage, representing citizens' organisations that work on safeguarding Europe's cultural and natural heritage. It is the voice of this movement ...

, the Federation of the European Heritage Organisations, and was the honorary executive president and president of the Royal Historic Houses & Gardens Association of Belgium and governor of the European Historic Houses Association. Cardon was the honorary president of the

European League for Economic Cooperation The European League for Economic Cooperation or ELEC (, LECE) is an independent political advocacy group which advocates for closer European integration. Established in 1946, ELEC was one of the founding members of the European Movement in 1948. It ...

(ELEC), and had been vice president of the

European Movement The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it. History Initially the Euro ...

. He was a member of the business club

Cercle de Lorraine The ''Cercle de Lorraine'' ( French) or ''Club van Lotharingen'' ( Dutch) was a Belgian business club, located in Brussels. The club was founded in 1998 to bring together distinguished and representative personalities from the Belgian financial ...

Philanthropy

Cardon was a member, and former chairman, of the board of directors of the

International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, with a regional presence in the United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Africa, Canada, Latin America, Caribbean, Southeast Asia, India, Jap ...

(ICMEC), a global nonprofit organization that combats

child sexual exploitation Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) defines the "umbrella" of crimes and activities that involve inflicting sexual abuse on to a child as a financial or personal opportunity. Commercial Sexual Exploitation consists of forcing a chil ...

child pornography Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...

, and

child abduction Child abduction or child theft is the unauthorized removal of a Minor (law), minor (a child under the age of Age of majority, legal adulthood) from the Child custody, custody of the child's Parent, natural parents or Legal guardian, legally appoi ...

. In July 1997, Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer became the first chairman of

Child Focus Child Focus (or the European Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children) is a Belgian foundation that supports prevention and investigation of missing children, abducted children, runaway children, and sexually exploited children, along ...

(the Belgian Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children) and was president founder of Missing Children Europe.

Honors

In 1998 Cardon was ennobled as Baron by King Albert II. He was also Commander of the

Order of the Crown (Belgium) The Order of the Crown (, ) is a national Order (decoration), order of the Belgium, Kingdom of Belgium. The Order is one of Belgium's highest honors. History The Order was established on October 15, 1897, by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold ...

, Officer of the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgiu ...

, Knight of the

Order of Léopold The Order of Leopold (, , ) is one of the three current Belgian national honorary orders of knighthood. It is the oldest and highest order of Belgium and is named in honour of its founder, King Leopold I. It consists of a military, a mari ...

, and Officer of the

Italian Order of Merit The Italian honours system is a means to reward achievements or service to the Italian Republic, formerly the Kingdom of Italy, including the Italian Social Republic. Orders of chivalry Italian Republic There are five orders of knighthood ...

. Furthermore, he was a member of the

Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences The Royal Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences (, RACEF) is a Spanish institution dedicated to the study, research and promotion of economic and financial sciences. Its motto is ''Utraque Unum'', "Both are one". History Before the foundat ...

of Spain and was recipient of the Hope Award 2003 for Global Vision (U.S.).

References

External links

Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer
(ERAB)
Cercle de Lorraine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardon De Lichtbuer, Daniel 1930 births 2022 deaths Université catholique de Louvain alumni Belgian businesspeople Belgian Roman Catholics People from Brasschaat Belgian barons Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Officers of the Order of Leopold II Officers of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic