In memory of Paul R. Speijer (1958-2000)

Paul Robert Speijer died at the age of 42 on 30th January 2000 when the Ken ya,Airways flight KQ431 from Abidjan in the Ivory Coast to Lagos in Nigeria plunged into the Bay of Benin shortly after take-off. Together with him, 1 78 other passengers died including the leader of the banana program of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dirk Vuylsteke a Be lgian citizen, and the East African Highland banana breeder of IITA, John H artmann, a citizen of the United States. John was married to Miriam Kaplan, also a nematologist. The body of Paul was not recovered. He left behind hi s wife Nicole Smit, a son and two daughters.