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Obituary |
The death of Milos, as he was known to his friends and colleagues, has filled the hearts of many of his contemporaries with sadness. Known to so many people in the microbial taxonomy and culture collection worlds, his passing has meant the loss of a big-hearted man with great personal and professional qualities. He will be greatly missed.
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Milos was an enthusiastic champion of rising young microbiologists and a tireless organizer of conferences. He is remembered particularly for the regular events on the taxonomy of bacteria held at the CCM in Brno. Many international microbial taxonomists will remember the WFCC's IVth international conference in Brno in 1981 and the ECCO meeting in 1985. These and similar events always enabled a rich exchange of ideas and put Brno firmly on the ‘microbiology map’. As many of his friends have remarked, Milos was a great ‘bridge-builder’.
His professional and communication skills were recognized by many national and international organisations. For several years he was Chairman of the Czechoslovak Society for Microbiology and he contributed to the founding of the Federation of Czechoslovak Collections of Microorganisms and to the coordination of its activities. He became Chair, Vice Chair or President of several international organisations [FEMS (1988–1993); ECCO (1986–1993); Czech Society for Microbiology (CSM) (1990–1992 and an honorary member of the Society); IUMS Member at Large (1991–1994); Vice Chair and Member of various subcommittees of the International Committee on Systematics of Bacteria (1978–1990)]. He was a member of the editorial boards of three microbiological publications.
In his scientific work he specialised in the taxonomy of bacteria, focusing particularly on the family Micrococcaceae. Over the years, he became a highly regarded specialist with an associated wide breadth of knowledge. He was a member of the Subcommittee of Halobacteriaceae and the Subcommittee on Staphylococci and Streptococci and was the author or co-author of several chapters of Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology/Systematic Bacteriology (Planococcus, Paracoccus, Micrococcus, Stomatococcus). In all, he published over 140 scientific papers. His contribution to taxonomy was also recognized by the naming of a novel bacterial species and a new genus in his honour, Planococcus kocurii [Mao & Komagata, J Gen Appl Microbiol 31 (1985), 441–455] and the genus Kocuria [Stackebrant et al., Int J Syst Bacteriol 45 (1995), 682–692].
This record shows that he was a major contributor to bacterial taxonomy and to the development of microbial resource centres and his professional achievements will long stand the passage of time. But for those that knew and worked with him, he will be remembered best for his cheerful smile, his consideration for others and for his enjoyment of life. His meetings were always happy and lively and participants returned home with a sense of well-being and comradeship. His modesty would certainly have put this down to the ever-plentiful supply of Czech beer, but his friends and colleagues knew otherwise. We mourn his loss and send deep condolences to his family, with whom many of us spent such happy times.
Barbara Kirsop, Electronic Publishing Trust for Development, and colleagues.
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