In memoriam Dr. Bernard Majoie (1939 - 2021)
With deep regret, we say goodbye to Dr. Bernard Majoie (1939-2021), the founder of the Fournier-Majoie foundation who played a crucial role in the start-up of CRIG 5 years ago.
Dr. Bernard Majoie dedicated more than 35 years of his life to research and development activities at the Laboratoires Fournier, who have a successful track record in bringing medicinal products from the test tube to pharmacies and hospitals and have grown from 400 to over 4000 workers in over 35 countries.
The Foundation Fournier Majoie was born from Dr. Majoie’s firm belief that far too many promising scientific studies in the field of oncology fail to translate from bench to bedside due to a lack of adequate financial and managerial support. He decided to put the experience as chairman at Laboratoires Fournier to good use helping researchers with an entrepreneurial spirit. He calls it “giving back to the community”.
Thanks to Dr. Majoie’s passion for entrepreneurship and research, the Fournier-Majoie foundation has become very successful and has coached, supported and inspired many entrepreneurial researchers over the past 15 years, including several CRIG researchers.
We cannot underestimate the crucial role Dr. Majoie has played in the foundation of CRIG. A little more than 5 years ago, Dr. Majoie found out about our ambition to unite all cancer researchers in Ghent and to accelerate cancer research through cross-disciplinary collaboration. Bernard was an immediate and strong believer of our approach and provided the first and considerable seed funding, that enabled us to establish CRIG. Without the support of the Fournier-Majoie foundation, this would simply not have been possible. Period. On top of this, the foundation supported several cancer research projects and CRIG teams over the past decade. From the bottom of our hart, and on behalf of all cancer researchers, we thank and honor him.
Dr. Bernard Majoie was known and honored for his innovative, visionary, collaborative and international mindset. Those who had the pleasure and honor to have met and known him, also witnessed his ability to listen, his modesty and empathy, and above all his philanthropic and inspirational attitude. A passionate man, always motivated to give the best. He will be remembered by many as a loyal and respectful friend and a source of inspiration and hope.
Together with his son and current chairman of the Foundation Fournier-Majoie, Mr. Jérôme Majoie, we will keep his legacy alive and keep on striving to conquer cancer through research and collaboration.
