Founder Willy Callens passes away at the age of 80

Willy Callens, founder of family-run company Callens in Waregem, has passed away at the age of 80. He leaves a lasting impression, both within the company and externally, across industry. His nerve as a young entrepreneur during the 60s and his eternal perfectionism at whatever site Callens was working is what made the firm. The second-generation CEOs – daughter Annick Callens and Co-CEO Windy Moerman – uphold those values.

Willy Callens’s legacy is huge. In word and deed. Together with his wife, Lena, he started the company as a one-man business in Hulste, West Flanders, in 1966 and mastered the trade as he went along. He was a respected people person who honored his commitments to customers and staff alike. 

Willy and his wife Lena were a complementary pair, not only at home, but also when it came to business. Commercially, he took the lead. He generated the income. She issued and meticulously paid the invoices. And the same applied to the staff. Willy looked after them at work and Lena paid them punctually and correctly.

Willy was famed for his generosity. No one was to be short-changed. Not his customers and most definitely not his staff.

Jan, who joined Callens at the age of 15 and has been with us for 32 years, is only too happy to confirm that:

“If we needed extra equipment on site, Willy made it his business that we had it within 24 hours. Because if you want deliver quality, you need the right equipment.”

Equally irrefutable: Willy was a bon vivant. Restaurant owners in the wider region knew him all too well, for he frequented them with family, friends and customers. In fact, it was his habitat where he negotiated business deals and won projects. In recent years, simply to socialize in his easy care-free manner.

Since 2003, Willy Callens’s life’s work has officially been in the warm hands of the 2^nd generation: daughter Annick Callens and Co-CEO Windy Moerman. They embarked on their Callens career almost 30 years ago by working their way up through every department. That instantly earned them praise for being approachable and empathic executives.

Annick and Windy honor Willy’s values in the way they run the business: people-centered entrepreneurship, perseverance to continue delivering strong results - and reinvest in the company - and enjoying life to the full. These values form the solid, old-fashioned basis for today’s remarkable HR policy, where humanity takes center stage. 

With Willy’s passing, Merel, Margot and Martijn – his 3 grandchildren - have lost their dearly beloved granddad. They looked up to his boldness and Willy, for his part, loved watching them grow up and shape their own lives. 

“It was my father’s dream to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of his brainchild in 2026 together. And to witness one or more of his grandchildren take over the helm as the 3^rd generation of company director(s),” Annick Callens adds, overcome with emotion.