Today news reached us that Niels Schuddeboom has passed away. (His last name translates as ‘Shaking tree’ in English, which was the name of his company).

A little over a year ago he held his last lecture, where he celebrated his love for life and called upon us to carry on and be a torchbearer. A week less than a year ago he became a Knight in the royal Order of Orange-Nassau, in recognition of his contributions to Dutch society.
Two days before Niels died his very last Tweet reads “Let me see what I can do for you with that”.

During his ‘last lecture’ in November 2016, he said he hoped to have cancer for a long time. That long time (longer than expected, yet too short) has now come to an end. The card announcing his passing we received in the mail started with “The tree has fallen”.

Thank you for your energy, friendship, humour and wit, Niels.