Pierre Louis Lasjaunias
M. Leonardi
Dear Friends,
Pierre Louis Lasjaunias died today.
On Sunday morning, on his arrival in Zurich for the annual course organized by Anton Valavanis, he had a massive heart attack and never regained consciousness. After two days of intensive care his heart stopped once and for all today, Tuesday 1st July 2008.
Strange to think of Pierre’s heart stopping – a contradiction in terms for a heart like his! And his brain? It is difficult to believe his brain is no more – and still more difficult to accept.
For thirty years Pierre was the driving force and prime mover behind most of the successful projects of the ESNR European Society of Neuroradiology, not to mention the World Federation of Interventional Neuroradiology (WFITN), the ABC Course, the European Course (ECNR), the European Board and the UMES Division of Neuroradiology to name but a few, without forgetting his Master Course in Thailand and his work as editor of the journal Interventional Neuroradiology. He somehow found the time to do all this in addition to his full-time work as head of the Neuroradiology Service and his teaching activity as professor at Paris Bicêtre University Hospital.
Pierre’s excellent cultural, scientific and professional work was vast and far-reaching, making him a figure of undisputed repute for neuroradiologists the world over.
Pierre was also a great friend, a brother I could talk to about anything, sharing dreams and hopes, work and leisure, problems and achievements. I cannot imagine my life without him.
We share in the immense grief of his wife Pascale and his three daughters Coline, Aude and Estelle, to whom we send our love and deepest sympathy….