It is still very hard for us to accept that one of our great and most committed members and OD professionals, our friend Imre Lovey from Hungary, has passed away. Imre was at the peak of his professional achievements and in a period of personal joy and happiness when, unexpectedly and so soon, he had to let go. During the time before his passing he had been working with colleagues experimenting, discovering and co-creating a new group exercise. This is indeed how we knew him even in his last moments: highly committed to work, to the profession, to people and to the values that help design healthy organizations. He was ahead of his time, and years before “organizational health” was recognized as one of the key factors for company success he foresaw its importance, wrote books and developed assessment tools to measure, evaluate and build up organizational health. IODA without Imre will be a different place. He took an active part in shaping IODA. He attended more than 20 IODA World Conferences, where he always contributed through pre-conference workshops or key workshops which attracted large audiences. He cross-fertilized, co-organized and chaired two of the most remarkable IODA World Conferences in Hungary (in 1997 and in 2010 the OD World Summit). For eight consecutive years (1997-2005), Imre was an active member of IODA?s Executive Committee, serving IODA?s progress, developing our organization and providing direction for future conferences and workshops. His work made a significant contribution towards OD being considered and recognized as a vital profession. He worked as professor in the faculty of IODA and supported OD Master Programs such as those at the Assumption University in Bangkok. In 2007 he was the recipient of the Richard Beckhard Award, the highest recognition granted by IODA. In Imre we are mourning a great man, a visionary professional and a wonderful friend: gentle, valuable, wise and caring. Our deepest sympathies go to his family, especially to his sons David and Adam, to his mother and sister, and to his companion Oxana. The IODA president and one of our board members, Peter Kalmar, will represent IODA at Imre’s funeral on September 21 in Budapest. Dear Imre, may your soul rest in peace. We will never forget you. You will always be with us. On behalf of the IODA community Dr. Ulla Nagel IODA President Please be aware of the attachment.
Attached file: Imre_-_memorial