Nico van Dijk is born in the Netherlands in 1948. Records of his paternal ancestors has been traced back to the late 16th century. They were probably among many Protestant refugees from Flanders that fled to the northern Netherlands due to the Spanish invasion caused by the Reformation. His mother is of Austrian distinguished descent. Nico is married to Sabine, whose paternal ancestors come from the Lower Rhine (Germany) region and whose maternal ancestors are of Pomeranian (Danzig/Gdansk) origin. Nico spent his youth mainly in Austria (Graz and Wörgl) and in the 1990's he lived several years in Belgium (Antwerp) and Albania (Tirana). To date Nico, Sabine and their three adult children are living near the west coast of the Netherlands.
Nico read business administration and Germanic languages at various colleges in the Netherlands and Germany. He made his career in industry (commercial correspondent, public relations officer), governmental and (supra-/inter-) national institutions (management secretary & spokesman), as well as adviser and teacher/lecturer at various colleges and universities in Europe and Asia. He visited more than 60 countries in three continents, communicates in 8 languages and plays 3 musical instruments. In 1998 he left civil service and became an independent communications consultant. Since 2007 he is taking things a bit easier, although he is still active member of several advisory boards.
Mid April 1969 he wrote his first ´paid for´ article, illustrated with a self made photograph, for a local newspaper. Since than he has written - as a free lance journalist - hundreds of articles on education, history, justice, sports, gastronomy and .......photography. Most of them illustrated with pictures taken by himself. He published books and booklets on studying, photography, malting & brewing, distilling and history; (co)produced movies/films on discrimination, alcoholism and juvenile delinquency, compiled an interactive compact disc (cdi) on education in the Netherlands and designed information strategies for various clients, like ministries and industrial/commercial organizations. Since 1974 he organized over 100 study tours all over Europe for students, teachers, politicians and journalists; performed as stand manager at international/European fairs and two World Exhibitions and assisted/advised as a presenter/host/stringer various international TV-stations, like CNN, NHK, RAI, NOS, RTR, Channel4, and TRT.
Finally he has been founder/chairman of a consumer organization (1980) and an international aid association (1994), chaired several public bodies and two professional associations and he did a lot of voluntary work since he was a school boy. Sabine has worked as a primary school teacher in Germany and in the Netherlands, has volunteered as well as educationalist and as homeopath.
No membership of unions,
nor political, religious & ideological organizations.