Obituary: Fred Broers

Fred was born in The Hague during World War II on 14th September 1944. In 1947, his parents Jeanne and Rien Broers decided to move to Indonesia. His father was born and raised there and he found it his duty to contribute to its liberation, but it wasn’t a smooth ride – Fred and his mother were kidnapped and the family were robbed three times.

In 1954, they returned on the last boat and life in the cold Netherlands was quite a change. Fred’s primary education had not yet been completed and a considerable backlog had to be made up. After studying at the Anthony Fokker school, Fred started his first job at publishing company Staatsdrukkerij, before being admitted to the Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague. That was a highly regarded education in the graphic and art world, leading Fred to advertising, and he benefited greatly from this choice throughout his life.

In 1964, he met his wife Marja and they got married in 1968. Because of a job at Droste, they moved to Uitgeest and built a life there with many friends and acquaintances. After having worked at chocolate manufacturer Droste for 16 years, he set up an entire sales network in Germany for the cheese union in a very short period. While he was very successful, he wasn't at home much, so made the switch to dairy company Menken van Grieken.

In 1992, Fred started Nebu to work for himself. To realise all his ideas, he needed a computer scientist, and he found this in me, so a partnership was born. Always together and known as the salesman and the techie, we first started with sales support applications, and then quickly switched to market research.

Fred soon became a well-known figure in market research, loved by many. His preference for gadgets and always something new has led to many innovations in market research. Early on he saw the possibilities of the internet, which together with innovative customers such as Blauw, Motivaction, Research voor Beleid and Mobiel Center, was used for the core of software development. Together with Fred’s sense of relationships and a preference for maintaining contacts, this led to the company’s successful and beneficial growth.

Fred decided to leave the company in 2010. In the years prior, he had gained a lot of experience with energy for homes, so he started a new company to bring energy production and advertising together in a beautiful way. He was also involved in coaching entrepreneurs and took over a local store, which enabled him to stay in touch with many people in his village.

On 31st December 2014, Fred suffered from a brain haemorrhage and only just survived. Nevertheless, he recovered after a long period of rehabilitation at Heliomare. Later on, he got more complications, but he never lost his fighting spirit and smile.

That Fred was so loved in the market is clear from the many comments that were posted on the page set up by Nebu. The memories are sensitive, cheerful and bear witness to love for life. We miss a special personality.

Fred leaves behind his wife Marja, daughter Myrthe, son-in-law Bo and granddaughter Jools. The funeral takes place at 2pm on Tuesday 30th April in Uitgeest.