190714 Obituary GeorgFrater

Dear members of the Swiss Chemical Community

It is with deep mourning that we have to communicate the unexpected passing of Prof. Dr. Georg Fráter, on June 25, 2019. Our thoughts and hearts reach out to his family, his wife Marijke and his daughters Kinga and Saskia.  

Georg Fráter was born in Budapest, on September 27, 1941 and moved to Switzerland in the wake of the Hungarian revolution in 1956. After studies at the Universities of Zurich, Leiden and Alberta at Edmonton he joined SOCAR AG, the agrochemical division of Hoffmann-La Roche in 1970. His love for terpene chemistry and complex synthesis, later made him switch to Givaudan in Dübendorf. In 2010, he became a founding member of the startup XiMo AG, a collaboration partner of Givaudan in the field of metathesis catalysts where he was still active as scientific advisor.
Throughout his career in industry, he kept lecturing at the University of Zurich and was awarded the title of Professor in 2001. 

After his retirement, he served as president of the Swiss Chemical Society from 2004-2010 and was the initiator and founding father of the SCS Foundation established in 2008. He served as member of the board until 2012, being one of the drivers to establish the foundation. Georg and his spirit will stay with us and the Swiss chemical community forever.

The funeral will take place in Ebnat-Kappel, Evangelisch-Reformierte-Kirchgemeinde, Steinfelsstrasse, on July 22, 2019 at 14h

Sincere regards,

Swiss Chemical Society
Alain De Mesmaeker              David Spichiger
President                                 Executive Director

SCS Foundation
Hans Peter Lüthi
Director

Link to the obituary on the website of XiMo  

 


David Spichiger, SCS
04.07.2019