Max Kelly was not only a power house of categorical understanding, but he also taught us how to combine beauty with rigour and thoroughness in his mathematical writings (see, for example, Richard Wood's recent message!) and thereby rendered an enormous service to the reputation of category theory. In addition to creating a world centre for categories at Sydney, with his willingness to spend long periods of time at numerous places in the world he was (together with Saunders Mac Lane) also the prime ambassador for category theory for many years in many countries, where he would not only give plenty of his time but also never fail to fully engage himself in the local language and culture. Early in my career I had the great privilege to benfit from Max's visits in Germany. Like many others, I will always remain very grateful to him for everything that I learned from him at that time, and for being such a candid and inspiring leader in our community for over forty years. Walter Tholen.