Former EWRS president Marco Quadranti passed away
From our ex president Paolo Bàrberi we got to know that Marco Quadranti, former EWRS president from 2006 to 2007, has passed away.
We share here this personal view of Paolo Bàrberi. An official obituary on behalf of the EWRS will follow soon.
IN MEMORIAM – DR MARCO QUADRANTI
There are so many beautiful memories that Marco and I have shared during our long period of service in the EWRS Boards (and beyond that), that is hard to pick up a few. I met Marco for the very first time in Basel, during the EWRS Symposium held in 1999, when he was the head of the organizing committee and I was a young assistant professor, engaged for the very first time as session organizer. To be honest, my first impression was that of a rough company man, quite suspicious of a youngster who was working on non-chemical weed control methods. Well, no first impression could have been more misleading. Marco was a lovely, bright-minded person. Although we had very different backgrounds and likely different views on how to approach weed management, there was a kind of alchemy between us. An alchemy who made us undertake several important actions within the EWRS Boards across many beautiful years of common engagement. We shared many views, including the importance of Working Groups and their interactions as key engine of the Society, the importance of sustaining young scientists to ensure generational renewal, and the importance of keeping the EWRS banner high when we engaged in trans-European collaboration. We also strongly believed that – to survive – weed science had to widen its horizons, and to embrace inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches with no hesitation, a view which has gained credit in recent years. Beyond our EWRS actions, Marco started to visit me regularly in Tuscany; in these occasions, we could taste the joys of our friendship, our superb dinners and wine tasting sessions across Tuscan restaurants, and our lovely conversations and walks in Nature. Hansjörg Krähmer then joined us in these peripatetic walks, where we enjoyed the pleasure of talking of a variety of subjects, including some very far from weed science. If we had worn a toga, we could easily be taken as three Greek philosophers. Our common sentiment was so strong that we liked to call ourselves “the past-presidents unofficial club” and we laughed about that. I have rarely met an open-minded and enthusiastic person like Marco, who was a living proof of how far we can go as humans when we overcome mental schemes and categories. I will miss you so much, my dear friend, but I know that – wherever you are – you will continue to inspire us with your volcanic brainstorming and heartfelt openness.
Paolo Bàrberi
Former EWRS Scientific Secretary and President