It is with intense emotion and sadness, we announce the untimely and unfortunate demise of FIP's CEO and General Secretary Mr. A. J. M. (Ton) Hoek on 28th of July, 2012 after a short but courageous battle from cancer.
It's with deep sadness that we have suddenly lost a strong support and friend in FIP, and would be sadly felt by all his pharmacist friends within the international community. Always cheerful, friendly and helpful, he was admired for his deep sense of commitment to developing strong relationship with WHO and always tried his best to encourage and support dialogue with national organizations. He dedicated his career not only to the world wide promotion of pharmaceutical care but to the global advancement of pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy education through his visionary leadership and influence. FIP has lost a wonderful administrator. We have all lost a dear friend.
We express deepest condolence to his loved ones and may God bless Mr. Hoek and him rest in peace.
A.J.M. (Ton) Hoek
[1955-2012]
Ton studied pharmacy at the State University of Leiden in The Netherlands. He obtained his master of science degree in 1983 and graduated as a pharmacist in 1984. He had training periods in both pharmaceutical practice and hospital pharmacy. During his time as student, he was active in the pharmaceutical student organisation AESCULAPIUS and served as president during 1980/1981. After university, Ton joined the pharmaceutical industry and worked at several management positions both in R & D, as well as marketing. He started in the formulation development department of Solvay Duphar, as head of the development of liquid and semisolid dosage forms. In this position, he was responsible for the development of new dosage forms for the new chemical entities coming out of Solvay pipeline, as well as line extension of existing products. After that, he switched to the marketing of the medical devices division of Solvay and became marketing manager. He was responsible for marketing Solvay's prefilled syringe system in global markets. In 1991, he was appointed as director of development and registration for veterinary pharmaceuticals of Solvay's animal health division. Ton Hoek was appointed general secretary of FIP on March 1, 1999.
It is only befitting that he had just received a coveted award and named an "Officer in Order of Orange-Nassau", a Royal Declaration bestowed by the Queen of the Netherlands.