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. |
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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
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