In memoriam Farewell to a good friend and the driving force behind Floor Forum International, our chief editor
Ludwig Janssens In memoriam … our friend
The entire Floor Forum International team is in mourning. Last month, we heard that our chief editor Ludwig Janssens had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. His death is a sad loss for his family and friends, but for us as well. In this article we pay tribute to this creative and talented all-rounder, who was one of the driving forces behind Floor Forum & Floor Forum International for over 20 years. Ludwig grew up in Mechelen and went to school at Sint-Rombouts College, where he studied Greek and Latin. And so, it was no coincidence that quotations in Latin featured regularly in his texts. Ludwig was a creative spirit. His old school reports testified to that: ‘Ludwig is too playful and still doesn’t take his studies seriously enough. And so, obviously, his results suffer. We hope that he will take his work more seriously in the future.’ Yet at the same time he always got full marks for kindness, honesty, and helpfulness. That’s the Ludwig whom we’ve always known.
Love for the catering sector
After his humanities studies, Ludwig intended to study for a degree in law, but those plans were thwarted by his love of cuisine. Ludwig discontinued his studies and committed himself heart and soul to his own restaurant in Leuven. Ludwig followed that up with a few other catering establishments, but finally he settled at the Wingerd, a fish restuarant in Vismarkt in Mechelen (B).
Proverba
In the restaurant, however, Ludwig could not express all his creativity to the full. He also readily took up his pen, and that’s why he set up the editorial office Proverba, concentrating mainly on trade journals. For many years he wrote about fire prevention for the Fireforum Magazine. Furthermore, he not only started work for the magazines Floor Forum and Floor Forum International, but also he discovered that our Il Nostro Ristorante magazine was right up his street, as was our consumer publication Parket & Laminaat. That proved to be a fruitful partnership which lasted over 20 years and meant a lot both to him and to us.
Talented writer
Ludwig was a naturally gifted writer. A former school classmate told us the following anecdote. ‘I met Ludwig when I was fourteen. I sat next to him at school for one term. One Monday morning, Ludwig suddenly realised that he’d forgotten to write an essay. He took out a double sheet and wrote the essay in full in under 15 minutes. A few days later, he found that his essay was given a ten, whilst I had to content myself with a six for my weekend essay.’
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