On 3 July in Ghent, Belgium, our esteemed colleague Philippe Dengler passed away following a severe illness.
For many years, Philippe Dengler supported our work in North and sub-Saharan Africa as well as in Southeast Asia as an expert working intermittently and on a short-term basis. Of German heritage and born in Nancy, France, he studied French literature and lived in Algeria before settling in Belgium. After nine years as Head of International Relations for the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), during which he also coordinated a wide range of EU schemes on standardization and market surveillance, he became involved with PTB’s International Cooperation as a consultant, for which he was first approached by Alex Inklaar.
His favou
rite subjects were technical regulations, standardization and market surveillance, but Philippe also had tremendous general knowledge. He always paid attention to how the different partner institutions interacted. When faced with a new subject, he either familiarized himself with it quickly and with a desire to learn or was able to make use of his expansive network of contacts to locate an appropriate expert. His reliable recommendations, which we quickly came to appreciate, greatly enriched our projects.
Philippe’s immeasurable expertise and know-how – but also his character – left a lasting impression on our department. Through his unmistakable humour and creative wordplay, he left behind memories that we and the members of our partner organizations will never forget. His patience and composure allowed him to support us in difficult and challenging situations reliably, patiently and stead-fastly. We knew that we could rely on him to provide the right words and recommendations at the right time.
Philippe, we will miss you – and not only when having cake and coffee next to the Hôtel Le Belvédère, at our next project meeting, or over a laid-back dinner after a demanding all-day workshop.
