Stade Reims Mourn As Club Doctor Commits Suicide From Covid-19 Infection
French Ligue 1 side Stade Reims are in mourning after club doctor Bernard Gonzalez committed suicide on Sunday for contracting the Coronavirus disease.
The 60-year-old had been isolating at home with his wife, who has also tested positive for the virus.
Gonzalez was a faithful servant for Reims, having been part of the club’s medical team for the last 23 years.
He reportedly left behind a suicide note explaining his actions.
Mayor of Reims, Arnaud Robinet, released the following statement regarding the tragic news: “He was the club doctor. A great professional, recognised and appreciated by all.
“My thoughts are for his parents, for his wife, his family. He is a collateral victim of Covid- 19. I know he left a note to explain his gesture. But I ignore its content.”
Jean-Pierre Caillot, Stade Reims president, said: “Words fail me, I am stunned by this news.
“This pandemic affects Stade de Reims in the heart, it is a personality of Reims and a great professional of the sport who left us.
“His mission to the club of more than 20 years has been carried out with the utmost professionalism, in a passionate and even selfless manner.
“Doctor Gonzalez, in the harshest periods of the club, worked on a voluntary basis.
“He is my personal doctor, and today all my thoughts, those of the club of which he will remain a strong figure, go to his wife and his parents. Today it is a drama that strikes us.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused over 8,000 deaths in France from 92,839 infections.
