in memoriam Harry Aarts

The news of the passing away of our esteemed colleague

Dr. Harry Aarts

on 9 August, deeply touched us.

Harry, who graduated as a mathematician in Nijmegen, obtained his PhD at the University of Twente in 1994. As a teacher, he was a member of the Discrete Mathematics and Mathematical Programming group. He worked for the University of Twente for almost 25 years.

Although Harry had outstanding qualities as a researcher, his true passion was teaching. His unique qualities as a teacher led to no less than five teaching awards. Apart from that, Harry had a major responsibility in the mathematics component of all engineering programmes of the university.

Harry had to give up his fight against cancer, that started 2018. We’ll deeply miss his quiet presence and performance, his friendly nature, his humor and his smile. Many students highly valued his lectures.

Our deepest sympathies go to his wife Ank and his two sons Rens and Reijn, family and friends.

On behalf of the Executive Board, the employees and students of the University of Twente,

Prof. Joost Kok, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Prof. Marc Uetz, Chair Discrete Mathematics and Mathematical Programming