Dear colleague,

After the sad loss of our colleague and friend Roger Stough we are planning - in close cooperation with the programme director Laurie Schintler - to organise a memorial get-to-gather for him at the NARSC conference in Pittsburgh, on Friday late afternoon, November 15, 2019. His wife and children are also planning to be present. This meeting will last from 17.30 to approx. 19.30. Various colleagues have already volunteered to give a small memorial speech. In the meantime, several others have expressed an interest in joining this meeting.

You are herewith invited to attend this memorial ceremony celebrating the life of Roger Stough and,  if you wish to do so, to give a short speech. Depending on the number of volunteers to say a few words, we will have to ration the time. Please send an e-mail on your attendance  plan to Karima Kourtit (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.),  and certainly if you wish to say a few words. We will then further plan this farewell event for our friend and colleague. You will be further informed on the planning of these activities in due course. 

In addition, we plan to compose an informal booklet with personal thoughts on or memories of Roger Stough. All speakers at the memorial session are invited to put down their thoughts in a very compact form (max. 1 page including a photo,  a picture, or any other memorable text). This memorial booklet will then be handed over to his wife Barbara at the end of our meeting.

Please send your 1-page contribution well in advance  to Elfie Bonke (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), with a c.c. to Karima Kourtit. Also those colleagues, who are unable to attend or who are not giving a short speech, but are willing to express their memories of Roger are invited to send in a concise memorial contribution. This holds for Roger’s friends and colleagues all over the world. The strict deadline for sending in your contribution is October 25, 2019.

So far for now. More news to follow soon. 

Best regards,

Karima Kourtit

Peter Nijkamp

Peter Batey

Neil Reid