On July 25th 2013, our colleague Sofie Bruneel sadly passed away due to the consequences of an illness. For over a decade, Sofie was the right hand of the Secretary-General. She voluntaily arranged so many things for our society, all with an unmatched dedication and efficiency.
To name a few: Sofie organized all practical issues of thematic days and excursions, managed budgets and records, followed-up with the IUSS and the Royal Academy, handled memberships and actively maintained communication with our members. Her commitment did not go unnoticed: with her help, memberships were steadily increasing.
We are extremely grateful to Sofie for all the work she put in. But even more than that, we will miss her kind personality and positive approach. She always had a smile and friendly word for everyone, was interested in our personal endeavors and no matter what it was one asked her advice for, she would do whatever she could to help out.
When we discussed the future of the society only weeks before she died, she was so enthousiastic about the success of the excursion and the increasing number of young soil scientists that had joined.
Karen Vancampenhout, Secretary-General Soil Science Society of Belgium