Abstract
On May 16, Dr. Wouter G. van Doorn died in his hometown in The Netherlands after a short illness. Wouter contributed several articles to Autophagy, and also served as a reviewer. He provided substantial input into the most recent version of the guidelines, which is currently being revised; the section on plant autophagy reflects a great deal of his thinking about this topic. Here, we present a brief history of Wouter.
Dr. Wouter G. van Doorn was born on a farm in Ede, The Netherlands. In 1970 he started his studies of biology at the Utrecht University. For many years he was employed at Wageningen University, where he obtained his PhD on a dissertation titled “Vascular occlusion in stems of cut rose flowers.” His primary field of interest at the university was post-harvest physiology of cut flowers, and most colleagues from around the world knew his work on this subject.
About 8 years ago Wouter made an agreement with Wageningen University that allowed him to pursue his own research without being under their contract. This allowed him to cooperate with plant scientists all over the world. He authored and co-authored research papers that were published in leading journals including Autophagy and the Journal of Experimental Botany, among many others.
Wouter was often abroad for his work. In recent years he spent 4 to 6 months of the year in Bangkok, Thailand, where he assisted students of the Faculty of Natural Resources and Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, with their theses. Furthermore, he frequently traveled to universities and symposia in Italy and Canada, and worked with colleagues from the University of California, Davis, for many years. On a more irregular basis he also visited other countries for either work or recreation.
His friendly and cooperative attitude toward the scientists he worked with made him a beloved friend of many of them. Approximately 2 years ago he heard that he was suffering from a terminal lung disease. It was typical of Wouter that this message was of minor importance for the way he led his life; he stayed cheerful until the end.
A wise man, his motto in life was: “I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them” (Baruch Spinoza).
