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With great regret we have to announce that John (Jack) Gregory Hawkes, member of the editorial board of “GRACE” since the first issue in 1992 (see also Genet. Resour. Crop Evol. 42 (1995) III, 52 (2005) 349), passed away on September 6th 2007.

Jack Hawkes, active field botanist and plant explorer between 1939 and 1981, since 1952 lecturer in taxonomic botany at Birmingham University (1961 Professor of Plant Taxonomy), where he remained for 30 years, prodigious scientific author (his major works include The Diversity of Crop Plants 1983, The Potato – Evolution, Biodiversity and Genetic Resources 1980, The Potatoes of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (with J. P. Hjerting) 1969, The Potatoes of Bolivia 1989, Hunting the Wild Potato in the South American Andes 2004) and member of many international committees, has been one of the founders and most inspiring scientists of the global plant genetic resources movement.

Klaus Pistrick

Karl Hammer