American Crystallographic Association

In Memory of Louis Delbaere
A Remebrance by Gerald Audette

Left to Right: Bretna Hackert, Marv Hackert, Sine Larsen, Louis Delbaere, Carol Delbaere

Photograph courtesy of Peter Mueller taken at this year's Annual Meeting Banquet in Toronto, July 29, 2009

Click on image to enlarg

It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of Professor Louis Delbaere. Louis passed away suddenly on October 5th in Mississauga, Ontario while returning home to Saskatoon from an ACA Executive meeting in Buffalo. At the end, Louis was surrounded by his family - his wife Carol, his son Christian and his daughter Michelle.

Louis was an incredibly active member of our community, serving as the Canadian Rep from 1999-2001, a member of the Communications Committee from 2003-2006, and as President of the ACA in 2005. He was the current president of the Canadian National Committee for Crystallography, a member of the IUCr Executive Committee, and led the successful Canadian bid to bring the 2014 IUCr congress to Montreal.

Louis mentored numerous crystallographers, many of whom are active ACA members themselves. His contributions, friendship and enthusiasm for science, and in particular crystallography, will be truly missed. Funeral arrangements were made for Louis in Saskatoon.

Condolence messages can be sent to Carol and family c/o Ms. Lori Lisitza, Dept of Biochemistry or e-mail to lori.lisitza@usask.ca, or care of Dr. Gerald Audette (audette@yorku.ca).

Sincerely,

Gerald Audette
York University

An obituary for Louis Dlebaere appeared in GlobeLife.

A remembrance article will be published in the winter issue of ACA RefleXions.

"His contributions,
friendship and
enthusiasm for
science, and in
particular
crystallography, will
be truly missed."

ACA currently has about 2,200 members from countries spanning the globe. Scientists in every stage of their careers benefit from this diverse scientific community. Members are free to join one or several of ACA's 12 Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Each SIG provides focus on a specialty area and have a direct impact upon the program at the annual meetings. They offer members opportunities for networking within their field while expanding their skills and expertise outside their field. There are no additional fees to join a SIG. SIGs include: Biological Macromolecules, Fiber Diffraction, General Interest, Materials Science, Neutron Scattering, Powder Diffraction, Service Crystallography, Small Angle Scattering, Small Molecules, Synchrotron Radiation and Young Scientists.