The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Mr Alban D’Amours, who died on 9 November 2025, aged 85. Mr D’Amours served as President of the Desjardins Group from 2000 to 2008, and also sat on the board of the ICA.
ICA President, Dr Ariel Guarco, shared the following message with Mr Denis Dubois, current President and CEO of Desjardins Group.
“Please allow me, on behalf of the International Cooperative Alliance, to extend our sincere condolences to you, to the Desjardins Movement, and to his family and close friends.
“Across the cooperative world, Mr D’Amours will be remembered for the clarity of his convictions and for his unwavering commitment to strengthening the cooperative model. His contributions in Quebec are well known to you. On the international stage, he helped shape the way many of us think about leadership, governance, and the role of cooperatives in society. His insistence that cooperatives remain both true to their principles and responsive to contemporary challenges has had a lasting influence within our movement. During his time as a member of the Board of Directors of the ICA, he gave generously of his time and was unstinting in his ultimately successful effort to achieve essential structural reform. We remain the beneficiaries today of the insight, energy and readiness to compromise to advance the greater good that he demonstrated then.
“Those who encountered Mr D’Amours – whether briefly or over many years – often spoke of his thoughtfulness, his ability to bring people together, and his genuine interest in the well-being of communities. He had a rare ability to pair strategic vision with a deeply human approach, and that combination made his leadership both distinctive and impactful. He was one of our movement’s great leaders.
“Mr D’Amours leaves behind a legacy that will endure, not only through the initiatives he championed, but also through the example he set of calm, principled, and forward-looking leadership. His passing is a loss for all of us who see cooperative entrepreneurship as a powerful force for social and economic progress.
Please accept my heartfelt sympathy at this difficult time. Our thoughts are with you and with the Desjardins Movement.”
