"In order to receive, you must first give." - Luc Beauregard
MONTREAL, July 30, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - It was with a heavy heart that Jean-Pierre Vasseur, president and chief executive officer of RES PUBLICA Consulting Group, paid tribute to the Firm's founding chairman, Luc Beauregard, who passed away at his home last Friday, on the eve of his 72nd birthday. "We have lost a leader who left his mark on his generation in many ways, as much through his significant contribution to the development of the discipline of public relations as through his political, social and cultural contribution benefitting numerous causes," said Mr. Vasseur.
Luc Beauregard was founding chairman of RES PUBLICA Consulting Group, headquartered in Montreal. RES PUBLICA is a holding and management company of professional services firms that provide strategic public relations counsel to a wide variety of businesses. The Group has some 425 employees across Canada and elsewhere in the world. RES PUBLICA owns NATIONAL Public Relations, Canada's largest public relations firm, with offices in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Saint John, Halifax, St. John's, New York, London, as well as a satellite office in Copenhagen. It provides communications counsel in the medical communications sector under the AXON name in Toronto, London and New York. NATIONAL is a member of Burson-Marsteller's international network.
RES PUBLICA also owns Cohn & Wolfe | Canada, another industry leader with its own offices in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary and an affiliation with the worldwide Cohn & Wolfe network. Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe Worldwide are both subsidiaries of WPP Group, the global leader in communications. RES PUBLICA also owns Sonic Boom, specializing in digital communications, with offices in Toronto and Montreal.
"In addition to his immediate family and many friends, Luc leaves behind more than 425 colleagues for whom he was a model for his competency, his rigour, his availability and his commitment. He leaves behind a solid legacy, including a vision and values that will stand the test of time," added Mr. Vasseur.
Before founding NATIONAL in 1976, he was the president and publisher of a daily newspaper, Montréal-Matin. He began his career as a journalist, Ottawa parliamentary correspondent and city editor at La Presse, from 1961 to 1968. He then served on a task force on government information for the Privy Council in Ottawa and as special advisor and press secretary to Quebec's Minister of Education.
Professional awards and activities
Very active professionally, Mr. Beauregard was a former president of the Canadian Public Relations Consultants Institute (1979), former president of the Canadian Public Relations Society (1984) and former chairman of the North American Public Relations Council (1985). He received the President's Award (1985-1986) from the Société des relationnistes du Québec and was named PR Executive of the Year by an industry publication in Toronto. He was honoured with the Philip A. Novikoff Award (1996) from the Canadian Public Relations Society, in recognition of his contribution to society, and the Equinoxe Award (2006) from the SQPRP. From 2000 to 2007, he chaired the CPRS College of Fellows and was a director of the Communications + Public Relations Foundation (2007-2013), a major Canadian foundation based in Toronto.
He was founding chairman (2007-2013) of Public Relations Without Borders (PRWB), which leverages the discipline of public relations for the benefit of populations struggling with issues that hinder their development, including violence against women and children, poverty, malnutrition and access to education.
PRWB carried out its first mission in 2009 in Niger, in partnership with OXFAM-Québec. Since then, many other projects have been completed, focusing on a variety of issues, in such countries as Bolivia, Tunisia, Uganda, Benin, Haiti, Burkina Faso, India and Tanzania.
Activities in the cultural sector
Mr. Beauregard was also actively involved in many cultural, social and community organizations. He was chair of the arts magazine Vie des arts, president of the Fondation du Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal and served for 12 years on the board of the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. He also spent 12 years on the board of the Nouvelle Compagnie Théâtrale (Théâtre Denise-Pelletier). In addition, he served on the advisory committee for the magazine Premières en Affaires (2008-2012). He chaired the 2009 corporate campaign committee for the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and was a volunteer member of OSM's Public Affairs Committee.
Activities in the social sector
Mr. Beauregard was the founding chairman of the Montreal Island School Council Foundation. In 1994, he chaired Centraide of Greater Montreal's communications committee and, in 2001 and 2002, was the campaign committee member responsible for the communications sector. He served on the board and executive committee of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec and the board of Intégration-jeunesse. He participated in fundraisers for these organizations as well as for the Cystic Fibrosis Association, the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, the Perkins Brome-Missisquoi Hospital Foundation, the Sainte-Justine Hospital Foundation and the Special Olympics. He was president of Year X of the Ordre des jeux du Québec and has participated in this organization's other activities.
In 2006, Mr. Beauregard jointly headed the Nature Conservancy's fundraising campaign for the perpetual preservation of the Sutton mountain range. Since 2000, he served on the advisory board of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (the Neuro) and was a member of the Neuro's major campaign committee. He was also a board member (2004-2012) and a governor of PROCURE, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting prostate cancer. He was a board member of L'Appui (2011-2013), an organization that helps family caregivers. He was a member of Les Amis de la montagne (2001-2006) and a governor of the Fondation de la tolerance from 2009 until his death. He was a member and chair of the executive committee of the CHUM Foundation Campaign Cabinet (2010-2013).
Activities in the business sector
In 1984, Mr. Beauregard chaired the board of the Montreal Better Business Bureau and, from 1982 to 1986, he chaired AMARC, the City of Montreal's paramunicipal corporation that managed Man and His World and La Ronde. It was during his tenure there that the Montreal International Fireworks Competition was developed and launched. For more than 20 years, he served on the St-Hubert Group's board. He spent eight years on the board of Molson Inc. and four years on the board of 3-Soft (2001-2005) as well as LIPSO (2006-2010), two companies active in the technology sector. He was chair of the board of Metix and Metix Capital, which helps technology-sector companies achieve the next level of growth.
Mr. Beauregard served on the board of governors (1990-2013) of the Quebec Employers Council, where he was also a long-time member of the board (1992-1996) and executive committee. He was a cofounder of the Centre patronal de l'environnement du Québec and served on its board of governors until his death. He was also a member of the board and the executive committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce from 2002 to 2005.
He served on the board of the Council for Canadian Unity and was a member of the board of governors and board of directors of The Federal Idea, a Quebec-based think-tank promoting federalism as a mode of government (2008-2013).
Awards and honours
Mr. Beauregard was named a Member of the Order of Canada in January 1996. In June 1999, the Quebec Employers Council honoured his contribution to business and economic development, inducting him into its Entrepreneurs Club. In 2006, the Cercle Entreprendre appointed him Lauréat de la réussite Entreprendre.
In 2012, the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University established the Luc Beauregard Centre of Excellence in Communications Research, in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the field.
He was appointed Knight of the Ordre national du Québec in 2013. Just weeks before he died, he had the great pleasure of being named an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his contribution and exceptional commitment to his community.
"Luc Beauregard's exceptional career bears eloquent witness to his belief that in order to receive, you must first give," concluded Mr. Jean-Pierre Vasseur, president and chief executive officer of RES-PUBLICA.
Information about the memorial ceremony
A tribute to Luc Beauregard will take place at Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, 1085 rue de la Cathédrale, Montreal, on Thursday, August 8 at 10 a.m.
Image with caption: "Luc Beauregard, founding chairman of NATIONAL Public Relations (CNW Group/NATIONAL Public Relations)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20130730_C2411_PHOTO_EN_29381.jpg
SOURCE: NATIONAL Public Relations
Karl Baldauf
416-848-1429
Roch Landriault
Cell: 514-249-4537
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