Dr. Louis Lanier died in Nancy, France, on 18 May 2010. He was 81 years old. Louis Lanier was born in 1929 in Dijon. He studied agronomy at the “Institut National Agronomique” in Paris in 1951-1953, and then forestry at the “Ecole Nationale des Eaux et Forets” in Nancy in 1953-1955. He was first appointed as a forest engineer overseas for several years, namely in Ivory Coast. In 1960, he was appointed at the “Ecole Nationale des Eaux et Forets”. From 1964 to 1974, he was on secondment to INRA Nancy, where he founded the Forest Pathology laboratory and directed it until 1974. He also created a forest pathology diagnosis service, which was very useful for foresters and forest managers. From 1975 until his retirement in 1994, he was Professor of Forestry at ENGREF Nancy (formerly Ecole Nationale des Eaux et Forets). One of his most important contribution to forest pathology is probably his 2-volume book “Mycologie et pathologie forestieres” published in 1976 and 1978, which is still a very useful reference book in the French Forest Pathology literature. He was also one of the founders of the “European Journal of Forest Pathology” in 1971, renamed “Forest Pathology” in 2000. [Information obtained from Claude Delatour and Bernard Roman-Amat]. -- Pascal FREY INRA, Nancy-University Forest Pathology Group UMR1136 "Tree-Microbes Interactions" F-54280 Champenoux FRANCE Tel: +33 (0)3 83 39 40 56 Fax: +33 (0)3 83 39 40 69 E-mail: frey(a)nancy.inra.fr