Janssens, Charles

(1898-1982)

   The son of a Brussels wholesale merchant, Charles Janssens was born on 26 May 1898 and studied law at the Université libre de Bruxelles.

   He began practicing law in 1922 and continued his legal career, specializing in civil law, until his death. Janssens was elected a town councillor in Ixelles in 1933 and a deputy in the Chamber of Representatives in 1939. On becoming burgomaster of Ixelles in 1965, he declined to run for reelection to the national legislature, preferring to devote all his attention to his local duties. He worked to improve elementary and secondary education and was a major contributor in efforts to locate the Association des Écrivains belges de Langue française (Association of French-language Belgian writers) in Ixelles and to create the Musée communal des Beaux-Arts d'Ixelles. He died in Ixelles on 19 May 1982.