Former Regent Herman Fonteyne Dies

Herman Fonteyne, a former University regent and a trustee of the Hartford Art School, passed away on Oct. 11 at the age of 73.

Fonteyne served as a member of the University of Hartford Board of Regents from 1992 to 1995 and from 2003 to 2009.

In addition, Fonteyne was a member of the Hartford Art School, Inc., Board of Trustees. He had served as the board’s vice president and as a member of its Finance and Investments Committee, and he played a key role in the campaign to build the Renée Samuels Center at the Hartford Art School.

Fonteyne and his wife, Letty, who also is a member of the HAS, Inc., Board of Trustees, have been generous donors to the Hartford Art School. The art school's printmaking center is named in their honor, and an art school scholarship is named for Letty Fonteyne.

Herman Fonteyne was born in 1939 in Ghent, Belgium. He graduated from the University of Leuven, Belgium, with a degree in chemical engineering, and went on to work for Monsanto in Belgium and then in the United States. In 1982, Fonteyne joined Ensign-Bickford Industries in Simsbury, where he served as CEO and president.

Memorial donations can be made to the American Cancer Society or the Jan H. Fonteyne Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

Read Fonteyne’s obituary in the Hartford Courant, and leave online condolences.