European Nuclear Society
e-news Issue 7 Winter 2005
http://www.euronuclear.org/library/public/enews/ebulletinwinter2005/suchomel.htm

Obituary: Jiri suchomel

Nuclear Community Mourns Death Of Jiri Suchomel

The world nuclear community is mourning Jiri Suchomel – the past chairman of the Slovak Nuclear Society (SNUS) and a vice-president of NucNet who died last week.

Dr Suchomel died unexpectedly from a heart attack while on his way to work in Slovakia on the morning of 4th January 2005. His funeral was held in his home town of Piestany, near Bratislava, on 8th January 2005 – on what would have been his 66th birthday.

He was general secretary of the SNUS having served as chairman from 1998 until September 2004. SNUS president Vladimir Slugen, said Dr Suchomel had been the “engine” of many activities and the society had lost a “big heart”.

Dr Suchomel became Slovakia’s representative on the NucNet board in 1994 and he was elected unopposed to serve as one of NucNet’s two vice-presidents in May 2002.

NucNet president Juhani Santaholma said: “We have lost a dear friend and someone who did so much for the development of nuclear in the former Czechoslovakia and then in Slovakia itself – which of course joined the EU just last year. I recall the international conference I attended in Bratislava last year just after the country joined the EU. Jiri and his colleagues hosted the conference. It was very well organised, productive and a tribute to the hard work of Jiri and his colleagues.”

The secretary-general of the European Nuclear Society (ENS), Peter Haug, told NucNet: “ENS has lost a very close friend. Jiri Suchomel was one of the most active and supportive partners ENS had east of the former iron curtain. Besides that, Jiri impressed us all by his unsurpassed hospitality, friendliness and willingness for cooperation and coordination.”

Dr Haug added: “He was also the mastermind behind an unforgettable ENS board and general assembly meeting in Bratislava at the end of 2002.

“Personally, I was very much moved by the news of his early and very unexpected death. I will keep a kind memory of him.”
Other tributes to Dr Suchomel from around the world included that of the ENS president Bertrand Barré who expressed condolences on behalf of the ENS board.

The former ENS secretary-general and executive director of NucNet, Konrad Hädener, said: “I treasure my memories of Jiri as the incarnation of the original spirit of the European Nuclear Society, aimed at bringing together East and West, enthusiastically fostering the training and education of a younger generation and developing a reliable network of contacts among nuclear professionals.”

Dr Hädener added: “Jiri was probably the most sincere, helpful, selfless and noble person I had the pleasure of working with in all of nuclear Europe. To NucNet, Jiri was not only the voice of Slovakia, but of central Europe altogether, and also a long-time member of the board. We valued – and honoured – him as the single most dependable national correspondent, translator and quality guardian in the history of the network.”

Source: SNUS / Various

Editor: John Shepherd