It was with great shock and sadness that the EuroGOOS community received the message that EuroGOOS Secretary General Dr. Kostas Nittis passed away on 30 July 2014 after a long illness period.
Kostas Nittis took the position as EuroGOOS Secretary General in January 2013 full of enthusiasm and many visions for the new EuroGOOS that just had turned into an non-profit organisation under Belgian law. Kostas Nittis was however not unfamiliar with the EuroGOOS work since he had been actively involved in the EuroGOOS activities for many years as a representative for the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography and he had served as member of the EuroGOOS Board for 6 years.
Before taking up the position as EuroGOOS Secretary General Dr Kostas Nittis served as Research Director at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography. He had a Ph.D in Physical Oceanography (1993), B.Sc in Physics (1987). His main research interests were in the field of physical and operational oceanography and he had been PI in several international and national projects in this area. He had more than 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals and books and more than 90 publications in conference proceedings. He was actively contributing to the development of operational oceanography at regional, pan-European and global levels as member of the relevant GOOS networks. As a member of the ESF Marine Board he had been involved in European Marine Science integration and strategic development efforts.
EuroGOOS has lost a great leader and Europe has lost a distinguished scientist in the field of Operational Oceanography and a lighthouse in international cooperation and marine science policy.
The hearts of the EuroGOOS Community go out to Kostas’s wife and two small children.
