Professor Marian C. Horzinek was the scientific founder of ABCD and chairman until 2014. On July 28, 2016, he passed away in his 80^th year of life.

Professor Horzinek studied veterinary medicine in Germany at Giessen and Hannover Universities, from 1956 to 1961. A year later he obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (Dr. med.vet.) and in 1970 he gained his 'Habilitation' (a PhD equivalent) in virology. He began his career in virology at the Public Health Laboratory in Hannover, where he worked as a research fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. He later helped to establish the Chair of Virology at Hannover Veterinary School, and then spent a year as a research fellow at the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas in Caracas, Venezuela.

Upon his return, he became Head of the Exotic Diseases Division at the Federal Research Institute for Animal Virus Diseases in Tübingen, Germany. In 1971, he moved to The Netherlands where he was appointed Head of Department and Professor of Virology and Virus Diseases at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University. After 1992, Professor Horzinek has been director of Utrecht University's Institute of Veterinary Research, and from 1996 until his retirement in 2001, he directed the Graduate School of Animal Health.

Professor Horzinek has been associate professor at the Veterinary School in Hannover, Germany, courtesy professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, USA, and clinical professor of virology at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, USA. During the last ten years, he has established and chaired scientific advisory boards at the universities of Vienna (Austria) and Barcelona (Spain).

During his career, Professor Horzinek has gained prizes and awards from research organizations in Europe, Australia and Asia, and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Ghent (Belgium), Hannover (Germany), Uppsala (Sweden), Vienna (Austria) and Guelph (Canada).