I first met Ralf when he came to Calgary for a Sulfur symposium more than 45 years ago and we still have the game of Sogo that he brought for our children at that time . A couple of years later on a visit to Berlin he kindly accompanied me on a trip to East Berlin, although we had to enter through the different gates for visitors and residents. We met many times over the years at the triennial IRIS conferences on Inorganic Ring Systems . Ralf was a leader in the development of the highly successful IRIS conferences including organizing the memorable IRIS 6 meeting in Berlin in 1991. Three years later he was back in Calgary for IRIS 7 meeting in Banff. I recall Ralf taking pictures of the piles of his beloved Sulfur during a post-conference trip to a sour gas plant just outside Calgary. In recent years I was able to appreciate Ralf's encyclopedic knowledge of Sulfur chemistry even more through a collaboration on a review article published in 2019. Through numerous email exchanges in recent years I came to know Ralf as a kind, generous and wise man as well as a giant in Sulfur chemistry. He will be missed greatly by his scientific colleagues
Our most recent meeting with Ralf and Yana was at the 2015 IRIS meeting in Regensburg where we enjoyed their company at a dinner in the old town and on a boat trip on the Danube.
Our thoughts are now with Yana and we hope that time will heal the emptiness felt by this sudden loss.
TRIS & SUE CHIVERS
I first met Ralf when he came to Calgary for a Sulfur symposium more than 45 years ago and we still have the game of Sogo that he brought for our children at that time . A couple of years later on a visit to Berlin he kindly accompanied me on a trip to East Berlin, although we had to enter through the different gates for visitors and residents. We met many times over the years at the triennial IRIS conferences on Inorganic Ring Systems . Ralf was a leader in the development of the highly successful IRIS conferences including organizing the memorable IRIS 6 meeting in Berlin in 1991. Three years later he was back in Calgary for IRIS 7 meeting in Banff. I recall Ralf taking pictures of the piles of his beloved Sulfur during a post-conference trip to a sour gas plant just outside Calgary. In recent years I was able to appreciate Ralf's encyclopedic knowledge of Sulfur chemistry even more through a collaboration on a review article published in 2019. Through numerous email exchanges in recent years I came to know Ralf as a kind, generous and wise man as well as a giant in Sulfur chemistry. He will be missed greatly by his scientific colleagues
Our most recent meeting with Ralf and Yana was at the 2015 IRIS meeting in Regensburg where we enjoyed their company at a dinner in the old town and on a boat trip on the Danube.
Our thoughts are now with Yana and we hope that time will heal the emptiness felt by this sudden loss.
TRIS & SUE CHIVERS
