Dear colleagues It is with great sadness and pain that I tell you that Japie Vermeulen died tragically on the night of Sunday 11 February. He was on his way back from visiting family in Ceres, about a two-hour journey from Cape Town. He had taken a route through Bain's Kloof, a spectacular pass over the mountains between Ceres and Wellington. It was established that his car was overheating, the radiator was found to be empty and there was a hole in a water pipe. He had taken a container and attempted to descend a steep path to fetch water from a stream. He slipped and fell 10 to 15 metres, hitting his head and fracturing his skull. He died instantly. His body was eventually found, after a search, at 5pm on Monday. All who knew Japie will mourn a wonderful human being and a brilliant mind. ______________________________________________________________________ Prof Christopher Gilmour, E-mail: CRAG@maths.uct.ac.za Department of Mathematics Phone: +27-(0) 21-650-4065 and Applied Mathematics, or 650-3192 University of Cape Town, Fax: +27-(0) 21-650-2334 Rondebosch 7701, South Africa