The news arrived this morning. Aad is no longer among us. Her illness, finally, has defeated her.
Sadness crawls up. No more opportunity to ask: Aad, what do you think? No longer her reassuring: Yes, of course. She had explained, several times, that this 'of course', the tone she used, should refer to the great Ceppellini. She had known all the great ones in H&I. And all of them knew Aad.
For her last decade, Aad has decided to establish accreditation. EFI Accreditation. She had already the contacts to ASHI, which were so essential to give birth to this baby. She had herself a strong opinion, about what were the right and what would be the wrong things to do. She had the strong will, to make this accreditation a success story. And, in addition, she had an overwhelming and infectious optimism that things would work out fine in the end.
Operationally, she acted as General Manager of the Accreditation Office in Leiden. Commissioners and inspectors knew very well about her loyalty; and that they could rely on her. The customers, meanwhile 229 laboratories, were very well aware of her efficiency in sorting out packets and problems.
We want to say: thank you Aad, on behalf of all of them.
What about the future?
What if Aad had been asked: how should we go on?
Her answer is clear: You can do that.
Gottfried Fischer, Francesca Poli, Andrea Harmer, Antonio Nunez-Roldan and Sonja Geelhoed
27 May 2009
