Roy Oppenheim was a founding member of FONDATION SUISA (at that time still called „SUISA Foundation for Music“) and served on its foundation board for 19 years. Even after he had stepped down in 2008, he remained on friendly terms with the foundation and continued to support its management with his expertise and extensive network.
Following his retirement from SRG, SUISA took the opportunity to recruit Roy Oppenheim, a proven expert in communications and public affairs, as an advisor.
Both institutions were fortunate to have found in Roy a person who, after many years of experience at SRG as Director of SPlus, SRG’s first 2nd TV and cultural channel, and as Director of Swiss Radio International, had in-depth knowledge of Swiss cultural work across all sectors and its international reach. From this activity, he also brought along his openness and enthusiasm for connecting all parts of Switzerland. He cultivated an extensive network of contacts in culture, society and politics throughout the country. When it came to finding someone who could advise or help us, Roy was sure to know someone, whether in Ticino, French-speaking or German-speaking Switzerland. In this way, he and the Swiss-wide institutions SUISA and FONDATION SUISA succeeded in promoting understanding in the areas of society, politics, business and culture across language barriers.
Roy has contributed a great deal to SUISA’s as well as FONDATION SUISA’s public profile and to internal cohesion and communication. His great and always astounding creativity has significantly shaped our cooperative’s image and our work in favour of music creators.
Thanks to his perseverance, even in difficult circumstances, special, far-reaching projects have repeatedly been realised. They have been ranged from an increased presence of Swiss music at the international music and publishing fair Midem in Cannes to the SUISA sound tower on the Arteplage in Biel in 2002 on the occasion of the national exhibition Expo.02.
We consider ourselves fortunate to have worked with Roy Oppenheim and to have been inspired by his cosmopolitan, liberal nature, his inexhaustible curiosity and creativity.
We send our sincere condolences to his wife Rachela, his son Harry and his family. We will keep Roy as an important and formative part of FONDATION SUISA’s corporate history in fond and vivid memory.
Andreas Wegelin, Urs Schnell
https://blog.suisa.ch/en/a-life-dedicated-to-swiss-culture-and-its-charisma/