Kees Bakker died on 17 April at the age of 84 for the start-up phase of Socires I have been very significant. As treasurer, as advisor, as co-designer of programmes and as a bridge between us and various civil society organisations.

Already in 1999 he saw with some others, such as Ernst Hirsch Ballin, Henk Vroom and Trudy Blokdijk-Hauwert, that the preservation and updating of the Christian social ideas required an additional provision in the form of a think tank or study centre. Thus the confrontation of the bearing values of our thinking with contemporary reality had to be translated into new perspectives. And that is why he was heartily willing to bear the same responsibility as treasurer at the WI around 1998 for Socires. But in very different circumstances. Was the WI financially guaranteed an annual basic subsidy from the Government, at our organization everything was uncertain and the operating costs had to be collected from project to project.

In the meantime, he was very committed to helping to build a bridge between the worlds of entrepreneurs and those of ethicists and theologians who advocate for the relationship of economy to general well-being. It was the years of boundless privatisation and of the apparent invincibility of the Anglo-Saxon capitalist model. And in that atmosphere, as an economist in Tilburg, he always remained educated in Cobbenhagen's thinking, believing that economics must be at the service of the general good, wanted profit and enterprise to have a real social license. This led him, together with someone like Professor Teun Hardjono, to the concept of ethical enterprise and the promotion of corporate social responsibility, long before it became widespread in our thinking and in our country. And he could do that with credibility, because he didn't do it from a purely theoretical concept, but from his own practice as entrepreneur and president of the United Gelderse Papierfabrieken.

He also did this as a member of VNO-NCW and as chairman of the Central Netherlands Circle, while again using his position as treasurer in the day-to-day administration of the Christian-Social Congress to combine his values in that gremia with his practical institution. In doing so, he was sometimes a bit stubborn and emphasized the value of existing agreements and formal aspects, a characteristic that was not always practiced in Catholic environments. But precisely that business, perhaps that Amsterdamse of his hometown, combined with his deep religious beliefs also brought an added value that he could bring to full effect, for example, in the Catholic Council for Church and Society.

For Socires His contribution to the renewed Christian-Social Congress (CSC) in 2001, "Getto... An inspiring new Christian-Social Congress will be organised in 1991, when society is still dying of the changes in Europe. Four days full of good intentions. But it is also the year of "the end of history" and the breakthrough of the Anglo-Saxon capitalist model. This rage and the subsequent wave of privatisations, the lifting of all kinds of Christian civil society organisations, the acceleration of secularisation and the search for direction will determine that decade until 2001. Is there still a role in the 21^e century before that thought, which has set such a mark in that passing hundred years on economy, politics and society? In our country and those other countries around the Rhine there are confusion, uncertainty, designation.

And then comes the big conference "Getto & Plaine" Socires organised for the CSC and with a very active and coordinating commitment by Kees Bakker. The uncertainty is not gone, neither is the lack of direction. However, from that year on, these will be the starting point in a new joint search of Christian-social organisations and individuals who will be inspired by issues such as social cohesion, the place of values in a hard economy and, above all, whether there is an alternative to the new liberal dogma. Is social cohesion possible beyond the boundaries of social ghettos? Over the limits of short-term profit thinking long-term value creation; about the importance of shareholders a balance with the other participants in the economic process and is there future for Creation and society in connection with it and with each other? Kees Bakker actively cooperated on that cover.

But about that time he also went back to devote more and more to his growing family, over three generations. Many grandchildren accompany him, "the Father Familias," to his final resting place. His daughter Willemijn put it this way during the funeral: "There was no organization with a C or a K in it or daddy was involved." And a friend concisely summarized his life in the pronunciation: "The world has improved thanks to Kees with his stay here on earth. .

For this commitment is Socires Kees Bakker owes a lot of thanks. He may dwell on that new earth for which he has made himself so strong here.

Mr. Jos van Gennip

Chairman Socires