Philippe Lasserre passed away on Sunday, November 3, 2019 at 7:00 am while in his 86th year. He was one of the recognized pillars in the international network of Initiatives of Change. All his life, since the end of his German language studies at the Sorbonne, he was dedicated to the movement.
Often in discretion, he kept the structures alive. He reflected on its positioning and its evolution. He was convinced that in order to keep the spirit alive in the long term, it was necessary to strengthen its structure. In the early 1980s, he was one of those who launched the International Consultations and created the International Council in 1993, which later merged with the international association; Alongside others such as Jean-Jacques Odier and Daniel Mottu, he was one of the pioneers of the written expression of the message of Initiatives of Change in French. He was an intellectual and historical reference, but also a moral one, thanks to his great rigor.
In France, he was for many years the secretary general of the association of which he accompanied the successive presidents as a friend, confidant and adviser.
He was concerned with the training of young people through the evenings he organized with his wife Lisbeth in their apartment on the Avenue des Gobelins in Paris and through the mountain camps for the youngest, a school of discipline and character formation. Like many members of his generation, he was concerned about the network with which he ensured a faithful and lasting presence.
His commitment to the world took him and Lisbeth to New Caledonia, where he was close to some of the Canaque leaders, but also included Cambodia, Germany, Australia and the United States.
Philippe Lasserre was also involved in his parish and in the synods of the Protestant Church of France. In particular, he accompanied some pastors in their pastoral commitment.
From a family involved in the resistance during the Second World War, at the age of 9, he was in charge of discreetly guiding Jewish families who disembarked from the train at the village station in the Alps to their chalet.
To the end, his mind remained alert and on the lookout. While we were talking not so long ago about the threats facing the world due to global warming, economic, political and migratory crises, he underlined how a phrase of Frank Buchman, founder of Initiatives of Change, was more relevant than ever: "It is nothing less than saving civilization!"
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