Dear Friends and Colleagues,

    It is with the utmost sadness that we learnt of the untimely death of our friend and colleague Mikael Passare.
    Mikael officially joined the Committee for Developing Countries of the European Mathematical Society in 2008, but many of us knew him as a treasured colleague for much much longer. In spite of his very busy schedule he always had time for CDC business. He was our Treasurer, and following our tradition but unlike treasurers of other commitees, was relaxed about what we spent, since he believed in our work. He attended all our meetings, greatly contributed to the serious but genial atmosphere. As we all know, he was a great linguist and he used to speak French with our francophone colleagues, much to their content.
    Even before Mikael joined us, we all heard of his great travelling. Although many of our members do travel a lot, we all believe that Mikael surpassed us all. In spite of his experience in meeting people, Mikael was actually quite shy, and even to the extent of appearing diffident. But that was only an appearance, because where work in development was concerned, he was not shy to express his opinions, which were so useful to us.
    It is not for us to speak of his work in mathematics, nor of his great contribution to ISP. His other colleagues will testify to that amply.
    We just want to repeat, because this is from our hearts, what a tragedy it is. Somehow one feels that it is not fair that such a rich and useful life should be cut short at its prime.
    We send our deepest sympathy to Mikael's family and his close colleagues. We feel deeply their loss, which is also ours.
        Tsou Sheung Tsun (chair)
        Michel Waldschmidt (vice-chair)
        and all members of EMS-CDC.

An obituary of Mikael Passare by C.O. Kiselman is published in the Newsletter No. 84, June 2012, p. 12-15 of the European Mathematical Society.