It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our colleague François-Xavier in April. Latterly a teacher of linguistics, phonetics and phonology at the University of Liège, he was also a prolific author, with books on subjects ranging from La Puissance militaire soviétique to more than 50 books for children. A devoted family man with four daughters, he brought his enthusiasm for life to his participation in EMA activities – first briefly as a judge for the Children in Museums Award and then for the EMA Awards.

François-Xavier is a much missed and valued member of our organization. In addition to his great knowledge of culture and heritage, we appreciated his sense of humour and will remember him with a wide smile on his face and an appropriate if sometimes irreverent commentary for every occasion. We know he was sad that in recent years his state of health did not allow him to participate in our activities as fully as he would have liked, but he was never far from our thoughts.