Dear Colleagues, it is with immense sadness that I have to relay the news of the death of Stéphane van Gelder which occurred abruptly over the week-end. Indeed, after the San Juan meeting, Stéphane went to Italy for a well earned holiday. He had a motorcycle accident. Some of us might know him from having worked with him on the Nominating Committee, which he chaired in 2015 (Oct 2014 to Oct 2015) and 2016 but also as a member in other years. Some of you might have known him when he was Chair of the Generic Names Supporting Organisation (GNSO) Council in 2010 and 2011. It was then, that I got to know him as I was ALAC Chair at the time. Stéphane was not the kind of person who took to a position and did nothing with it. He liked challenges and led many improvements in all of the positions that he held. He was also not scared of intervening when he felt something was wrong in a process or a system. Having founded a Registry in the late nineties, Stéphane sold it and remained a consultant and businessman in recent years, also becoming one of EURALO's first individual members (after he actually asked me whether in my view, that was suitable or not). He will definitely be missed. Olivier