Miroslav Gačić

I wish to add a few lines in memory of Prof. Alexander (Alex) Lascaratos who passed prematurely away on June 25, 2023. In Fall 1982 the POEM program was proposed at a Round Table held during the 28th CIESM Congress in Cannes and which a number of scientists from the riparian countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as from France, England and Germany, attended at the invitation of Prof. Allan Robinson of Harvard and myself. The following year Prof. Henry Charnock organized a workshop in Lerici, La Spezia, to launch its scientific program and a larger group of Mediterranean scientists attended. On this occasion, Dr Lascaratos convinced his colleague, Dr. Theocharis, also from Athens, to talk with us about the conspicuous absence of any Greek representation in the program. Even though Dr.Theocharis later became the "official" Greek representative, Dr. Lascaratos equally attended all the meetings and workshops of POEM in Phase I. We became close colleagues and friends, and I could appreciate not only his scientific excellence but also his ebullient personality and his superb integrity. Alex always said very directly his opinion, without any "deference" to the "powerful "ones, like he did in our first meeting in Lerici. And this quality of his character endeared him to me very much. He was as loud as an Italian, generous and a really nice person. A few years later he chose to spend a sabbatical semester in my Department at MIT, visiting not just me but also John Marshall and I could appreciate these qualities even more. I was shocked when Miro Gacic told me of the precarious situation of his health. I obtained his phone number and our first conversation was very emotional as he did not expect to hear me and as we both reminisced about the "old times". He will always remain in the memory of those who knew and appreciated him. I count myself fortunate to have been one.

Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli

It is very sad news. I don't remember exactly when and where I met Alex for the first time. Perhaps in Paris in the late '70s or, most probably, in one of the early meetings of the POEM program in the early '80s. Perhaps in Ischia or in La Spezia. What I vividly remember were the endless discussions among all participants (Mediterranean style) trying to define the project main lines and its organisation. Although we (those of the Western Med) were almost spectators, it was easy to recognize the strength of some participants, especially Alex. Typically these long meetings ended with a late dinner that helped to smooth arguments. Later, we use to meet on occasion of CIESM congresses within the Physical Oceanography sessions. I have a particularly fond memory when Alex found me and invited me to dinner with his family at his home when I stayed in Athens for some weeks in the autumn 1985.

I also remember his friendship with Umit Unluata, a predecessor of him as Chair of the CIESM Committee, who unfortunately died two decades ago. It was a nice Turkish-Greek friendship above typical rivalries. On the occasion of a stop-over in Barcelona - returning I think from some meeting in Palma- we planned, Alex, Umit and other colleagues, to have a dinner in a nice typical restaurant, but that failed due to an also "typical" 2-3 hours delay in the flight. We said: "too late, next time we'll have to try again for sure" and when the occasion came in 2004, within the frame of the CIESM Congress, when we finally had our planned dinner - unfortunately without Umit. It was a sort of an EMed-WMed twinning. Alex was one of the most solid pillars of the Physical Oceanography in the Mediterranean. We miss him.