“The Gabo Foundation expresses its deepest sorrow over the death of Jean-François Fogel, renowned French journalist, media advisor and essayist. He served as a member of the Board of Directors, was president of the Governing Council and was teacher of the institution founded by Nobel Prize for Literature laureate Gabriel García Márquez to promote quality journalism in Latin America.
Fogel passed away in Paris on Sunday, March 19, after suffering a stroke. He was 76 years old. [...]
This is what Jaime Abello Banfi, [Gabo Foundation's general director], said after hearing news of his death:
‘Teacher, advisor, director, friend, accomplice, Jean-François Fogel accompanied us for more than two decades. He did so with utmost enthusiasm, commitment and generosity in workshops, seminars, juries, [and] the Gabo Festival. He advised colleagues and projects, was. in frequent dialogue with our team, especially with youth, with whom he showed his infinite curiosity and unique sense of humor. He traveled to Colombia and other countries in the region several times a year for board and council meetings. In fact, he suffered a stroke just a few hours before our board of directors' first meeting of the year. He had confirmed his remote participation from Paris. And he was preparing for the Gabo Foundation, with enormous enthusiasm, a new training program for heads of journalistic teams of digital native media.
Jean-François had a deep knowledge of and interest in Latin America and Spanish-American culture. He wrote books on Cuba and Colombia, was a good friend of Gabo, whom he met in the early 1970s. He loved journalism and literature, cared about freedom of expression and the quality of democracy in the region. And he was one of the first to do what we now call digital transformation, of which he became a practical expert, a generous promoter and a clairvoyant guide. He leaves a lasting mark on the continent's new journalism.
He is irreplaceable and we will miss him a lot. But we will always remember him and we will pay him the tribute he deserves at the 11th Gabo Festival in Bogotá.’”
