Obituary: Formadrain President and Founder Gérard Marc-Aurèle

Montreal-based Formadrain has announced the passing of its company founder Gérard Marc-Aurèle, a pioneer in the field of steam-cured, non-VOC, epoxy CIPP liners. Marc-Aurèle passed away on Sept. 30.



Marc-Aurèle initially founded DRAIN-CLAIR, a drain cleaning company, in 1969, built the company under the banner DRAINAMAR Group, a company that offers all services related to sewers including CCTV, grouting, lining, testing, flow measurements etc. He built the company to more than 100 employees and sold it in 1999. Formadrain was founded in 1994 and Marc-Aurèle guided the development of the groundbreaking Formadrain lining process and served as its president until his passing. The company now has authorized installers in Canada, the United States and Asia.

Marc-Aurèle developed a number of industry-leading processes including FORMADRAIN and FORMAPREC (for industrial applications) and was greatly involved in the development of the FORMAQUA Process (a water main lining technology which is not commercialized at this time).

A true industry pioneer, he is also involved in many other R&D projects related to the FORMADRAIN Process and specialized equipment needed to implement it including: thermo mandrel, liner, robots, controls devices, steam units, etc. He also invented much of the equipment that propelled Drainamar to the position of industry leader in the sewer market.

Marc-Aurèle also served as president of the CMMTQ District of Montreal for several years. He was an active member of the Employers’ Council of Quebec.

Marc-Aurèle is survived by his wife Gisèle Mandeville Marc-Aurèle, as well as his four children; seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren; his brother and sisters.