In memoriam Jean-Claude Yernault, 1943–2004

It is our sad duty to announce to the readers of the European Respiratory Journal ( ERJ ) the recent passing, on September 21, 2004, after a prolonged illness, of Professor Jean-Claude Yernault, who was the first Chief Editor of the Journal and, for many years, a prominent personality within both Belgian and European respiratory medicine. Born in 1943, Jean-Claude began his studies in medicine in 1959 at the Free University of Brussels, where he graduated as an MD in 1966 at the age of only 23. He obtained his PhD degree at the same university in 1978 with a thesis entitled: “Contribution to the study of the effects of pulmonary circulation on the mechanical properties of the lung in man”. Jean-Claude trained in respiratory medicine at the city hospital of Mons and with Professor Armand De Coster at the Saint-Pierre University Hospital in Brussels, becoming a certified specialist in respiratory medicine in 1971. When the Free University of Brussels opened its new Erasme University Hospital in 1977, he was appointed Head of the Dept of Respiratory Medicine; he left this position in 1993 to become Medical Director of the Erasme Hospital. In 1987, he was also appointed Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He was a promoter or member of the jury for 13 doctoral theses in his own university and served as member of the jury for many doctoral theses at other Belgian and European universities. On …