Jan Willem de Pous (23 January 1920 – 6 January 1996) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Christian Historical Union (CHU) party now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist.[1]

Jan de Pous
Jan de Pous in 1958
Chairman of the Social
and Economic Council
In office
1 May 1964 – 1 February 1985
Preceded byGerard Verrijn Stuart
Succeeded byTheo Quené
Minister of Economic Affairs
In office
19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963
Prime MinisterJan de Quay
Preceded byJelle Zijlstra
Succeeded byKoos Andriessen
Member of the Council of State
In office
1 December 1958 – 19 May 1959
Vice PresidentBram Rutgers
Member of the Social
and Economic Council
In office
1 August 1963 – 1 May 1964
ChairmanGerard Verrijn Stuart
(1963–1964)
In office
15 March 1951 – 1 December 1958
ChairmanFrans de Vries (1951–1958)
Gerard Verrijn Stuart (1958)
Personal details
Born
Jan Willem de Pous

(1920-01-23)23 January 1920
Aalsmeer, Netherlands
Died6 January 1996(1996-01-06) (aged 75)
The Hague, Netherlands
Political partyChristian Democratic Appeal
(from 1980)
Other political
affiliations
Christian Historical Union
(until 1980)
Spouse
Greet de Pous
(m. 1951)
Children2 daughters and 1 son
Alma materUniversity of Amsterdam
(Bachelor of Economics, Master of Economics)
Northwestern University
(Master of Financial Economics)
OccupationPolitician · Civil servant · Economist · Researcher · Businessman · Corporate director · Nonprofit director · Trade association executive · Editor · Author · Professor

Biography

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De Pous attended the Amsterdams Lyceum from June 1935 until June 1938 and applied at the University of Amsterdam in June 1939 majoring in Economics and obtaining a Bachelor of Economics degree before leaving the University during the German occupation in April 1942 and joined the Dutch resistance against the German occupiers and worked as a journalist for the underground newspaper Trouw from April 1942 until January 1946. Following the end of World War II De Pous returned to the University of Amsterdam in July 1945 and also worked as a researcher before graduating with a Master of Economics degree in July 1947. De Pous applied at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in July 1947 for a postgraduate education and obtained a Master of Financial Economics degree in November 1949. De Pous worked as a trade association executive for the Christian Employers' association (NCW) served as General-Secretary from 1 November 1949 until 1 January 1953 and as an associate professor of Public economics at the University of Amsterdam from 1 January 1953 until 1 December 1958. On 8 October 1958 De Pous was nominated as Member of the Council of State, taking office on 1 December 1958. After the election of 1959 De Pous was appointed as Minister of Economic Affairs in the Cabinet De Quay, taking office on 19 May 1959. In February 1963 De Pous announced that he would not stand for the election of 1963. Following the cabinet formation of 1963 De Pous was not giving a cabinet post in the new cabinet, the Cabinet De Quay was replaced by the Cabinet Marijnen on 24 July 1963.

De Pous remained in active politics, in April 1964 De Pous was nominated as Chairman of the Social and Economic Council (SER), serving from 1 May 1964 until 1 February 1985. De Pous also became active in the private sector and public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Overloon War Museum, Institute for Multiparty Democracy, ProDemos and the International Institute of Social History) and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Cals-Donner Commission, Mijnraad, Raad voor Cultuur and Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP).

Decorations

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Honours

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Honours
Ribbon bar Honour Country Date Comment
  Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Netherlands 27 July 1963
  Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau Netherlands 1 February 1985 Elevated from Commander (30 April 1974)

Honorary degrees

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Honorary degrees
University Field Country Date Comment
Tilburg University Economics Netherlands 24 November 1977

References

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  1. ^ "Jan Willem de Pous 1920-1996; Verzoener bij uitnemendheid". NRC (in Dutch). NRC Handelsblad. 8 January 1996. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
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Official
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Economic Affairs
1959–1963
Succeeded by
Civic offices
Preceded by Chairman of the Social
and Economic Council

1964–1985
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the
Mine Council

1968–1986
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the
Supervisory board of
Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP

1980–1988
Succeeded by
Business positions
Preceded by General-Secretary of the
Christian Employers' association

1949–1953
Succeeded by
Unknown