Danielle de Fontaine

February 2, 1938 - February 3, 2019

Danielle Marie de Fontaine died from an unexpected heart attack at Summit Hospital on February 3, 2019, which was one day after her eighty-first birthday. Her passing was greeted by an outpouring of grief, admiration and love from her family and from numerous friends here in the Bay Area and in Europe. She is survived by her husband of 59 years, Didier de Fontaine, and their three sons, Stéphane, Michel and André de Fontaine, their spouses and seven grandchildren.

Danielle was born in Belgium, the daughter of former Governor of West Flanders, Pierre van Outryve d’Ydewalle and his wife, Marie-Thérèse. Danielle attended schools in Bruges, in French and in Flemish, and later on attended secretarial school in Brussels, which led her to a typist job for the Belgian prime minister. After her marriage, she and Didier left for the ex-Belgian Congo, where he taught for a year in Kinshasa, then left for Chicago. Next stop was Los Angeles for this traveling couple, followed by Berkeley, where they lived for 39 years.

It is at Berkeley that Danielle honed her considerable leadership skills, becoming president of the Alliance Française of the East Bay, then founding her own successful organization: “Les Amis de la Culture Française.” She was also very active in the UC Berkeley Section Club, becoming its president. She is a member of the prestigious Town and Gown club, and was very involved with the UC University Village organization. She was an active tennis player, winning tournaments until the age of 79, and playing up until the week before she died. Among her many activities, Danielle was also very much interested in art and herself produced lovely sculptures and intricate needle-point rugs and tapestries. We shall all miss her terribly: such a beautiful, gracious and generous person who profoundly enriched the lives of her family and of the many who knew her.