It is with the greatest sorrow that we heard the passing away of our dear colleague and friend Dr. Fabienne Maron on December 30th, 2024.  This sad event came as a shock to all of us as we were away on the end of year break. Our greatest regret is that we were not around when she said good bye. 

Fabienne will remain as an icon of IIAS. She joined us in 2000 upon graduation with a PhD from UCLouvain. During her 24 year long service with IIAS, she was key to the spectacular development of the European Group of Public Administration (EGPA) as a leading professional network in the continent. The annual EGPA conference has since become the flagship scientific event of IIAS.  The establishment of dialogues between the EGPA and partner associations in the USA, Central and Eastern Europe and MENA regions is another testimony to her commitment to the internationalization of EGPA. 

Through her career, she has become the go-to person for many people and organizations, amongst others championing the involvement of the younger generation of scholars into EGPA and other IIAS activities. Public administration as an institution was her life, her world. She spent her life disseminating the values of public service and commitment to people’s causes. 

Fabienne was the friend of everybody, and the driver of the social bonds wherever she was active. The IIAS, EGPA and IASIA communities will miss her dearly. The reality of her absence will soon hit hard in the Secretariat where we used to interact with her on a regular basis. 96 Rue du Commerce will never be the same. 

To all those who are feeling the sorrow of her demise, we address our most sincere condolences. Yet, as her closest companions, we can't help but feel that we, too, are the ones most in need of such expressions of sympathy. As the dust settles on the shock of her death, we will be communicating  about various commemorations including her funerals. 

To begin, we would like to open a ledger for colleagues and friends who would like to express their solidarity or remember a moment they shared with her. We welcome messages at info@iias-iisa.org.  Contributions will be published here, honoring her life with a virtual wall of remembrance.

May the Soul of Fabienne Rest in Peace. 

We will cherish her memory by taking the greatest care of the institutions she has helped build.