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 degree in Law (1953) and a

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree (1955) from the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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, french: Banque Bruxelles Lambert) was a Belgian bank that was created through merger in 1975 and became part of ING Group in 1998. It provided retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in Belgi ...

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 Rent a Car System and Budget Rent a Car) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as Asia in ...

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

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

, 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 European Historic Houses Association is an international organization based in Brussels, Belgium, and registered in the Netherlands. Through consultancy with the European Commission and the European Council, it has oversight over twenty-four nationa ...

. Cardon was the honorary president of the

European League for Economic Cooperation The European League for Economic Cooperation or ELEC (french: Ligue Européenne de Coopération Économique, LECE) is an independent political advocacy group which advocates for closer European integration. Established in 1946, ELEC was one of the ...

(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 The origins of the ...

. He was a member of the business club

Cercle de Lorraine The Cercle de Lorraine or Club van Lotharingen is a Belgian business club, located in Brussels, Belgium. The club was founded in 1998, and it wants to bring together, distinguished and representative personalities from the Belgian financial communi ...

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, with a regional presence in Brazil, Singapore, and Australia, is a private 501(c)(3) non-governmental, nonprofit global organization. It com ...

(ICMEC), a global nonprofit organization that combats

child sexual exploitation Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the sexual exploitation of a child, or person under the age of consent. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the prostitution of ...

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...

, 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 appo ...

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

Child Focus {{More citations needed, date=December 2019 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 ...

(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 (french: Ordre de la Couronne, nl, Kroonorde) is a national order of the Kingdom of Belgium. The Order is one of Belgium's highest honors. History The Order was established on October 15, 1897 by King Leopold II * ...

, 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 Belgi ...

, Knight of the

Order of Léopold The Order of Leopold ( nl, Leopoldsorde, french: Ordre de Léopold, ) 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 Le ...

, 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 Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

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 Barons of Belgium 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