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DR Arthur King
With the greatest sadness, we record
the recent death of Dr. Arthur King, a true original. It seems
almost impossible that someone with so much vital energy and such
a strong presence should no longer be with us, joking, cajoling,
inspiring, leading. Our condolences to his long-time partner Jenny
mixed with our gratitude for having had the chance to work with
someone of extraordinary humanity, flair and individuality.
We had the good fortune to get to know
Arthur during the development of two major multimedia programs
on Rabies as part of our collaborations both with the AVIS Partenariat
and with Merial. "Hello man" he would say as he strode
into our Docklands offices from the Waterloo train, "what's
new?". Arthur was appointed General Editor in 1996, and he
executed his task admirably, bringing the programs to publication
in 2000. Not only did he lead by example, gathering together and
editing with Dr. Michel Lombard all the materials we needed with
skill and scholarship, he was always driven by the wish to help
those faced with the challenge of Rabies do a better job. He grumbled,
as only Arthur could, that he did not understand computers, but
in fact he used them very well and to great effect. And a good
lunch, with a few golfing anecdotes and jokes, would calm him.
The resulting programs are knowledge benchmarks, in considerable
demand. Their worldwide success is giving rise to further programs
on the disease, which will bear his stamp as well. His forthcoming
book, with Dr. Alex Wandeler, will no doubt be a classic.
It frustrated Arthur that coordination
between all the parties dealing with rabies was often less than
optimal and he did what he could to build bridges; it angered
him that lives were wasted unnecessarily; and the knowledge that
so much of the suffering the disease caused was avoidable, drove
him to superhuman efforts, throughout his life - to the expense
of his own health. His passionate, vocational, commitment to his
calling inspired us deeply and not only do we miss a great professional
colleague, even more we miss a human being whose values made us
lift our eyes higher than before and whose standards challenged
us to respond to him in kind.
Before his death, Arthur had kindly
agreed to assist in forming the AVIS College, an international
group of experts, already working with AVIS on disease information
systems, ready to offer assistance to those who needed it through
personal support and intervention. He may have taken comfort from
the fact that the very day he died, the College moved a major
step forward; and its founding values will, we hope, be true to
his and form a small part of his remarkable legacy.
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