The UWC Adriatic President, Ambassador Gianfranco Facco Bonetti, the Rettore, Dr. Michael Price, and the entire UWC Adriatic community are deeply saddened by the departure of Antonin Besse, one of the founders of the UWC Movement, an International Patron of UWC and an Honorary Board Member of UWC Adriatic.
Over the six decades in the course of which the 17 UWCs were founded and developed, Tony Besse rose to a most prominent role among the founding fathers of the UWC Movement. In 1962 he generously donated a medieval castle on the banks of the Bristol canal where first Unite World College (UWC Atlantic) was founded.
He then devoted his greatest skills, drive and insight to setting up UWC Adriatic in Duino, whose developments he was to follow with the keenest interest for the rest of his life.
Lastly, in 2006, he was among the founders of United World College Mostar, which soon became a most rare beacon of peaceful coexistence among the religious and ethnic groups in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Tony Besse’s death represents an immense loss for our community as a whole. It nonetheless provides UWC Adriatic students, teachers and leaders with an opportunity to rekindle their commitment to preserve those ideals of peace and international understanding to which Tony devoted his entire life.
