Who we are

The Cantacuzino family is one of the oldest noble families in Romania and in the Balkans, the first mentions dating back to the 9th century AD.

Mircea Cantacuzino, one of the four children of Ion G. Cantacuzino (nicknamed "The Engineer"), attends engineering courses at Charlottenburg Technical College, in Germany, and Ioana, the eldest daughter, attends school in Călimănești and then university studies in France.

The two brothers founded the aviation school with the help of Octavian Oculeanu, supported by family and friends. Using his domain in Cornu, Drăgăneşti commune, Prahova county, Mircea established a hangar and a meeting point for the school and for aviators, apart from the one in Băneasa.

Mircea Cantacuzino Aviation School was the first civil aviation school in Romania (1928-1939). Its activity began on May 26, 1928, with the purchase of the first light plane, the Klemm brand. This was the place where, until 1939, a large part of the Romanian aviation elite of that time was trained. Many of the school's pilots became famous, earning their prestige by setting numerous aviation records, others dedicating their lives to passing on the school's values ​​and name, across generations of pilots.

Dan "Zinel" Cantacuzino, born in 1924 in Bucharest, the son of Mircea Cantacuzino and Stefana (née Golescu), spent his childhood either at his father's property in Cornu de Jos, Prahova county, or at his mother's family property in Golești, Argeş county. Between 1931 and 1935 he attended the primary school courses in Bucharest and between 1935 and 1938 he attended the military high school Mănăstirea Dealul in Târgoviște. For one year, between 1939 and 1940, he is forced to stay at home due to an illness, after which he attends a high school in Bucharest until 1944. In 1954, he graduates from the Faculty of Medicine and manages to get a job at A RPR Academy, Institute of Physiology Normal and Pathological.

The references made by the Academy's doctors (Dr. Prof. D. Danielopolu, Prof. Dr. Brukner, Dr. Benetato), stated that "Dan Cantacuzino's results prove that he is well-prepared professionally, having such excellent results also in his duties, being seen as a doctor with an extraordinary future."

In 1962 he left Romania with his mother Stefana for France to later arrive in the United States of America with the help of his mother's sister who was already living there. He dedicatedly set out to improve his English by reading New York Times editorials after listening to the same editorials being read on a local radio station, QXR. He worked as an intern until he obtained his equivalent American degrees after passing all exams. After completing his professional studies he worked at NYU, Bellevue Hospital, Kingsbrook Medical Center. At Kingsbrook Medical Center he established the dialysis center (of which he was the director), built the coronary care center (which he directed) and then became the chief of the intensive care unit.

During this period, in 1969, he married German citizen Barbara Nordhoff, who worked in public relations for Wolkswaven, the American branch. In Romania, he published a total of 11 works in his own name or in collaboration with specialized journals, such as RPR. In the United States of America, Dr. Dan Cantacuzino wrote, together with other doctors, the paper entitled "Uremic Pleurisy – A Clinicopathological Entity" which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 31, 1969.

Dan Cantacuzino died in the United States of America in July 2001, and according to his wishes, his ashes were later moved by his widow, Barbara, to the Cantacuzino crypt (Șerban Vodă Branch) in the Bellu cemetery in Bucharest, next to his father. The Mircea and Dan Cantacuzino Romanian Memorial Foundation was founded by the descendants of the Cantacuzino family who, according to the tradition of the nation, want to support and get involved in the maintenance of Romanian values ​​and culture, by sponsoring projects with this purpose.