Family, friends and figures from politics and academia gathered at Evere crematorium on Wednesday to pay their final respects to politician and historian Hervé Hasquin, in a ceremony centred on the man rather than his public career.
Hervé Hasquin died on 13 July at the age of 83. He was a historian, rector of the ULB, Minister-President of the French Community from 1999 to 2004, and permanent secretary of the Royal Academy of Belgium.
Instead of a formal tribute retracing his achievements, speakers painted a portrait of a man of conviction, deeply committed to passing on knowledge, dialogue and human relationships.
His son and grandchildren chose to remember the father and grandfather rather than the public figure, sharing personal memories in what was intended above all as a family ceremony.
Personalities who attended the ceremony included Georges-Louis Bouchez, president of the liberal Mouvement Réformateur (MR) party, although he did not speak.
A close friend recalled Hasquin’s intellectual journey and his role in the development of the Université libre de Bruxelles, where he helped expand infrastructure and contributed to the creation of the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Religions and Secularism.
The tribute also highlighted his commitment to research, culture and humanist values, as well as his involvement in Freemasonry, which he saw as a responsibility grounded in openness, dialogue between convictions and respect for others.
Through a series of anecdotes, the speaker also described the former Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) rector as punctual, attentive and able to hold an audience’s attention.
Those memories ultimately sketched the portrait of a man more than that of a former minister or academic.
