“Nouri” has left us towards a different world

The first posting of the year is the most terribly sad one ever: Dr. Nour Eddine ‘Nouri’ El Gueddari has passed away. We had to bury him yesterday in Havixbeck, close to where he lived with his beloved family, his wife Caro and their three little sons - suns! - Rayan, Younes, and Sofyen. For almost two months, since shortly before Christmas last year, Nouri had been in a waking coma after a severe bleeding in his head caused by a ruptured aneurysm. We had been hoping so much to detect small small changes as signs of improvement of his situation, but he never regained consciousness. He quietly passed away in the night from Thursday to Friday last week. Our hearts fail to believe that we will never hear his laughter again. Nouri has been the heart of our group which has grown over the decades to a size that would have been unimaginable without him. And without him, we would not have ventured from fundamental science into the development of chitosan-based products. He was a world renowned biochemist for his expertise in chemical and biological chitosan analysis - but what is more, infinitely more, is that he was a dedicated teacher who really cared for the progress of his students, both as responsible scientists and as respectful human beings. His high scientific ambitions were matched by his deep modesty. We owe him so much. Our good Nouri is no more.