Former DRAFT member, Professor Jo Haemers, passed away on Monday February 20th.

For Jo, the lab was a second home. This sometimes led to gray hairs among department chairs or a smile when you saw his car parked in front of the lab at the strangest hours. And so Jo was a beacon when things went wrong in the early or late hours or on weekends. I still remember a flooded second floor. He was also happy to check a setup or close a window when a concerned researcher called from home. His understanding of technical designs and his good relationships with the technical staff helped many of us advance in our research. Jo always had time for a chat on a wide variety of subjects including, for example, his love of photography and music. Who doesn't remember the (too loud) music coming from his "office"? The talks were sometimes discussions on the cutting edge where his stubbornness sometimes took the upper hand. But this steadfastness also led to great results since despite the measurements gone wrong Jo carried on. Since Jo was a jack-of-all-trades, he sometimes conjured up a clever solution. His production method for ultra pure V2O5 crystals based on a distillation of VOCl3 is a fine illustration of this. Together with many of us, we look back fondly on this fine period.