Philippe Roch

Philippe Roch (born 1949) was a Swiss civil servant.

Philippe Roch obtained a PhD in biochemistry in 1977. He was elected deputy of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland at the Grand Council of Geneva (1973-1982).

He was director of the Swiss section of the World Wide Fund for Nature (1977-1992) and director of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (1992-2005).

He was member of the board of directors of the Global Environment Facility, of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Philippe Roch chaired the conference of the parties of the Basel Convention (1999-2002) and of the Rotterdam Convention (2004-2005). In 2008, he received a honorary degree from the University of Lausanne.

Notes and references

External links

Saint Roch

Saint Roch or Rocco lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79 (traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327) was a Catholic saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August; he is specially invoked against the plague. He may also be called Rock in English, and has the designation of St Rollox in Glasgow, Scotland, said to be a corruption of St Roch's Loch. He is a patron saint of dogs and falsely accused people, among other things.

Etymology

Saint Roch is given different names in various languages: (Arabic: روكز‎; Albanian: Shën Rroku; German and Latin: Rochus; Occitan: Ròc; Valencian: Roc; Italian: Rocco; French: Roch; Maltese: Rokku; Polish: Roch; Spanish, Filipino and Portuguese: Roque; Slovak: Roch or Rochus; Slovene: Rok; Croatian: Rok or Roko; Hungarian: Rókus; Greek: Ρόκκος; Lithuanian: Rokas).

Traditional biography

According to his Acta and his vita in the Golden Legend, he was born at Montpellier, at that time "upon the border of France", as the Golden Legend has it, the son of the noble governor of that city. Even his birth was accounted a miracle, for his noble mother had been barren until she prayed to the Virgin Mary. Miraculously marked from birth with a red cross on his breast that grew as he did, he early began to manifest strict asceticism and great devoutness; on days when his "devout mother fasted twice in the week, and the blessed child Rocke abstained him twice also, when his mother fasted in the week, and would suck his mother but once that day".

Roch (disambiguation)

Saint Roch was a Christian saint who lived c.1295–1327.

Roch or St. Roch may also refer to:

People with the surname

People with the given name

Ruché

Ruché (pronounced in English /ˈruːkeɪ/ ROO-kay, Italian: [ruˈke]) is a red Italian wine grape variety from the Piedmont region. It is largely used in making Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato, a small production red varietal wine which was granted Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status by presidential decree on October 22, 1987, and was granted the more prestigious Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) status in 2010. The current DOC recognized area of production for the wine, covers only about 100 acres (40 hectares) of vines around the villages of Castagnole Monferrato, Refrancore, Grana, Montemagno, Viarigi, Scurzolengo and Portacomaro. Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato is, therefore, one of the lowest production varietal wines in Italy. The grape is also grown to some extent in the neighboring province of Alessandria.

There is some debate about the origins of the Ruché grape. One theory is that the varietal is indigenous to the hills northeast of the town of Asti. Another theory is that the grape is a local variation on a French import. It has been grown in the area for at least one hundred years but has only recently been marketed and consumed outside of the immediate vicinity of its production. Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato tends to be medium bodied with notes of pepper and wild berries and floral aromas on the nose. The wine is often characterized by moderate acidity and soft tannins. In the Piedmont region it is often paired with slow-cooked beef, northern Italian cheeses and mushrooms.