During the 1988 SON meeting at Raleigh, N. Carolina, it was announced that Professor De Coninck had died. While it is appropriate in Nematologica to dwell on De Coninck's nemato-logical research and teaching he achieved much else of note, and I should like to pay a tribute to my former teacher.
        His major contribution to nematology was in the French standard zoological work "Traité de Zoologie"; the volumes on nematodes appeared in 1965. He began his research in nematology in 1929, and apart from some publications on soil nematodes, his research was mainly in fresh water and marine nematology. His publications, mostly large books, contain detailed descriptions, excellent drawings and interesting discussions. The scheme he proposed in 1942 detailing the head sensilla is found in most zoology text books today, and has been confirmed by electron microscopy. His attention to detail extended even to the accuracy of descriptions of type localities which I appreciated when looking for the type

        Many nematologists world-wide will, however, remember him best as their teacher of nematode morphology and systematics during the international courses at Wageningen. Not only did he give excellent lectures, but he also insisted in helping actively in practical sessions.
He was a major professor in zoology, head of department and director of the :Museum of Zoology of the State University of Ghent. His official duties at his home university (dean, member of the Governing Board, etc.) and at other universities (Antwerp, Brussels) are too numerous to detail: the University lists some 36 important positions. His influence on zoology in Belgium can hardly be over-estimated: almost all the present professors of zoology in Flemish speaking Belgium are former students of his.
        During World War II Prof De Coninck was an active member of the resistance. It was also a period, for him, of vigorous research which he published regularly, done in part to convince the occupying forces that he was needed at the University: his research on head sensilla was done during this period. Immediately after the war he was appointed professor to occupy the vacancy left by his predecessor, who had lectured in Nazi uniform. The Society of Nematologists con-ferred Honorary Membership on him in 1971, as did the Florida Nematology Forum in 1976.
        He was excellent company and led an active social life, as well as being active in other spheres. As a leading member of the Humanist and Ethical Union, he was invited to participate in talks between the Vatican and the Humanists. Prof De Coninck's outlook was a strongly moral one and he exerted great influence over many people. He was widely trusted: during the late 1960s, when there was much student unrest, Prof De Coninck was one of the few professors able to communicate with the students.
        Prof De Coninck was remembered thus in a Humanist Union journal (my translation of a paragraph): "He inspired with awe, he was believed, some were passionately fond of him, "something he would have disliked if he had known of it. As a Chairman his interventions in dates were demonstrations of the austerity of his scientific reasoning and of the depth of his ideological convictions".
    He combined biology and philosophy when he wrote (my translation): "Sciences in general, biological sciences in particular, show the way to harmonious individual growth, to harmonious integration of the individual in society, to a beautiful and fruitful life".

        His portrait has been hung in the gallery of the Museum of Zoology, State University of Ghent: fittingly it hangs opposite that of the King of the Netherlands, William I, who founded the museum.