The striking entrepreneur John Franke from Zuidlaren left his mark on public life in Tynaarlo during his lifetime. He passed away on Saturday from lung cancer.
Accountant, event organiser, operator of the Prins Bernhardhoeve, director of the largest sand sculpture exhibition in Europe, councilor and TV personality: entrepreneur John Franke saw opportunities everywhere. He didn’t know about giving up.
Rock solid confidence
Franke was born in Groningen, but grew up in Eelde from the age of twelve. Around the age of thirty he left for Zuidlaren, the village where he would live for the rest of his life with his wife and five children.
His father’s entrepreneurial spirit continued in him. In 2009, Franke took over the operation of the ailing Prins Bernhardhoeve (PBH). Despite his rock-solid confidence in a good outcome and years of dedication, the great years never came. An outing as Hennie van der Most’s sidekick on SBS6 also did not help the event hall.
A last rescue attempt, the sand sculpture exhibition Sculpture Park in 2014, did not bring the hoped for success after years of pleading with policymakers. An earthquake in Kropswolde literally collapsed the already shaky adventure. The following year, the PBH went bankrupt.
Leaf for the mouth
In 2018, Franke started a career as a councilor for the Liveable Tynaarlo party. He took the firm idiosyncrasy with which he operated as an entrepreneur to the council. He quickly drew attention to this.
At the end of 2019 he received bad news: a tumor and metastases were found on a lung x-ray in the hospital. Cannot be cured, only inhibited. Franke didn’t sit down with the suits. “That’s not in the nature of the beast,” he said DVHN after his diagnosis. Instead, he focused on tracking down the disease that was making his life miserable.
Vlogging and lobbying
Until his death, he devoted himself to a population study for lung cancer and vlogged about his life as a cancer patient. In 2022, together with Lung Cancer Netherlands, he made the podcast ‘De Missie van John’, about his relentless fight against ‘silent killer’ lung cancer.
To his delight, a trial of the population study he desired was announced shortly after the podcast came out.
Active until the end
Despite his worsening illness, Franke remained active as a city councillor. He was elected for a second term in the 2022 elections. He only resigned from his council seat last February. Even as the end quickly approached, Franke continued to keep his followers informed via his Facebook page, in his own drily funny way. Franke recorded the last vlog shortly before his death.
John Franke turned 58 years old.
