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Remembrance of Professor Goran Dave: A great father, boss and friend

2023; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 26; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.14321/aehm.026.01.89

1539-4077

Eva Nilsson, Charlotta Hofdell,

Water Quality Monitoring and Analysis

It is with great sadness we announce that Professor Emeritus Göran Dave has passed away on March 20, 2023, at the age of 77. He is survived by his elder sister Harriet; his first wife Susanne, with whom he had a happy life along with their three children Rickard, Charlotta and Rebecca who later expanded the family with their spouses and Göran's beloved grandchildren. In 1996, Göran met Britt-Marie who would later become his wife and with whom he lived until his death. With Britt-Marie came a new larger family with her sons Thomas and Tony, along with their families.Göran was born in Göteborg, Sweden during May, 1945. His father had a carpet business and his mother was a hairdresser. After 9 years of schooling, Göran took his first job working at the Broströmia office of Swedish American Line, a passenger shipping company. During that time, he wanted to travel by sea and visit other countries; however at 17 years old he started highschool, while simultaneously holding a job at a petroleum station. Göran very much enjoyed school and he was eternally grateful to his parents that they supported his interest in knowledge.In 1976 Göran received his Ph.D. in zoophysiology with an emphasis on the impact of environmental toxins on aquatic organisms. His thesis focused on fat metabolism in eels under the influence of toxins. He would devote his entire professional life to the study of toxicology, and especially to sediment quality assessment. Over time, Göran's knowledge, along with his easy connection with colleagues and students, naturally led to him becoming a senior lecturer, an associate professor, and eventually a full professor.In later years he also worked for a period in the Department of Applied Environmental Science. He was a member of several standardization groups such as the Swedish Institute for Standards (SIS), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). Göran's passion for his work also led to a long-time collaboration with the AEHMS (Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management Society) where he initiated the Sediment Toxicity Quality Assessment working group which would hold conferences and produce several international publications.Göran often remarked that he was fortunate because his work was also his hobby, and he passed that enthusiasm on to his Ph.D. students who, following their doctorates, worked at various agencies applying their knowledge to help improve both aquatic and terrestrial environments.Outside of his professional pursuits, Göran had a great interest in horticulture and valued his time spent in his garden. Many were the people who walked past and admired the splendor of his efforts. His love of nature combined with his early interest in travel took him and Britt-Marie to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, Svalbard, Norway, and to Alaska in the northern United States of America. Ever interested in learning new things, when Göran got lymphoma his interest in genealogy was awakened and his work on the subject was compiled into a book titled The Hunt for my Roots.Along with his personal pursuits Göran kept in touch with his childhood friends throughout his life and they were brought together with Britt-Marie's friends. Strong will and determination were hallmarks of Göran's and he employed these when he had a desire to meet with all his friends on the Spanish island of Tenerife. It was there that he fought his last battle against an illness which took more and more of his energy, but Göran was positive until the end and his standing response about how he felt was: “I'm great!” . . . which upon reflection strikes true of the man himself.In 1982 I started working in Göran's team and my impression of him was that he was a very good leader and supervisor. He was positive, kind, cheerful and allowed his staff the responsibility of working independently. He was always great about listening to new ideas and suggestions about methods and experiments. Together we successfully developed and applied toxicity tests using Daphnia, Zebrafish, Hyalella and Nitocra grown in culture in his lab.The long hours spent collaborating on work aren't always in a lab or office; sometimes you get the pleasure to know your colleagues best when you travel together.To attend AEHMS's second Symposium on Sediment Quality Assessment (SQA) in 1996 our colleague Anne Sofie Wernersson, Göran, and I drove to Pallanza, Italy. We stopped overnight in Germany and in the morning we were all excited by a lovely drive overseeing the Alps.Two years later in ’98 Göran asked Ann-Sofi and I if we'd like to go with him to the third SQA in Amsterdam. To save funds, the plan was to once again go by car and camp along the way. We found a very nice campground called Monnickendam, which was close to a lovely channel. Göran had forgotten to pack a towel and asked if I had one extra. I said I did if he would blow up my air bed for me. We all had our own little tents and in the morning we got ready for the Symposium.One of the times I felt supported by Göran was when we were on the research ship Argos collecting sediment samples from the strait of Skagerrak between Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The weather was so terrible that I got seasick as we left the Swedish coast that I couldn't help with the sediment samples. I was ill for two days during which Göran and Birthe Hellman came to me trying to feed me with vegetable soup.These are just a few examples of how over time our shared experiences and adversity grew from being colleagues into a greater friendship. Göran often said we were like brother and sister, not boss and employee.When Göran phoned me from Tenerife on the 26th of January 2023 to say goodbye, he was having a nice time with his family and friends, but I felt that his life would be ending very soon. I miss him.This article is an amalgamation of content from Eva Nilsson, a long-time associate of Göran Dave, and an obituary published in the newspaper AB Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden by Göran's eldest daughter, Charlotta Hofdell. Editing and collage work was done by Lisa Elder, Jennifer Lorimer and Mohi Munawar of AEHMS.