Paul Levaux (1931-2012)

Mr Paul Levaux, a long-standing member of the Belgian delegation to the Finance Committee and Council, passed away on 3 December 2012.

Paul Levaux first attended the CERN Council and Finance Committee in June 1970 as an Advisor, although his association with CERN goes back to the 1960s. From October 1970 until December 2007 he represented Belgium in the capacity of Council and Finance Committee delegate. He was Finance Committee Chairman from 1971 to 1973 and President of Council from 1975 to June 1978. He also served as Vice-President of Council from January 1978 until December 1980 with a second term from January 1994 to December 1997.

In addition to holding these important offices, Paul Levaux participated in an extensive number of CERN working groups. In particular, he was a member of the Working Group on Procedures for Payment of Member States' Contributions (2000-2001) and Working Group on the Review of the Tasks and Working Methods of CERN's Governing Bodies and Committees (July-December 2003), Chairman of the Study Group on Pension Fund Governance in 2007, and Chairman of the Working Group on the Procedure for future Elections of the President of Council and the Chairs of the CERN Committees in 2007.

A substantial part of Paul Levaux’s time at CERN was devoted to matters relating to the Pension Fund. As Chairman of the Governing Board of the Pension Fund from 1989 until 2002, Paul Levaux was responsible for organizing and implementing the new structure of the Fund, giving it greater operational autonomy and placing it under the direct authority of the Council. Paul Levaux’s services in the pension field were called upon again very recently when he made an important contribution to the setting-up of the new governance structure for the Pension Fund approved by the Council in 2007, whose final report now bears his name as the “Levaux Report”. As doyen of the Council and Finance Committee by a very considerable margin, Paul Levaux’s departure from CERN as a delegate represented the loss of one of CERN’s most distinguished and long-standing Member State representatives, a true “mémoire du CERN”.

Throughout his long association with CERN, Paul Levaux remained a strong supporter of the Organization and its activities and, in honour of his achievements, he was invited back to CERN last June for the Council dinner. Gratifyingly, he lived to witness the first results from the LHC, whose announcement brought him great satisfaction.
 

CERN Management, Council President and Delegates, and his colleagues and friends