Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer, former chairman of Child Focus, has died

This figure of the Belgian banking world who worked within the foundation for the protection of children, died on July 26, at the age of 91.

Baron Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer, who had a leading role in the creation of Child Focus and its European counterpart, Missing Children Europe, which he both chaired, died on July 26 at the age of 91. , announced Child Focus in an obituary published on its site. A great figure in the Belgian banking world, the man was notably at the head of BBL, which later became ING Belgium.

Born November 16, 1930 in Brasschaat (Antwerp), Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer grew up in a French-speaking bourgeois environment. With a doctorate in law and a degree in applied economics from UCL, the man continued his career at the European Coal and Steel Community and then at the European Economic Community as chief of staff between 1957 and 1974.

In 1973, he became a director of the Banque de Bruxelles, then a member of the executive committee of this financial institution the following year. Two years later, he became managing director and member of the management committee of the merged bank BBL (Banque Bruxelles Lambert) before taking over the management of the latter in 1992.

After an aborted plan to create a “Great Belgian Bank” which would have brought together BBL, Générale de Banque (future Fortis Bank) and Crédit Communal (which became Dexia then Belfius), Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer left BBL in 1997, just before its takeover by the Dutch company ING.

He was made Baron by King Albert II in 1998.

Since 1997, Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer has been involved in the creation of the Foundation for missing and sexually exploited children, Child Focus, and will become its first president until 2007. He also contributes to the development of Missing Children Europe, which he will chair from 2001 to 2007. In 2005, he also became chairman of the board of directors of the International Center for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC).