Tragic news of Japie Vermeulen

["Christopher R A Gilmour" <crag@maths.uct.ac.za>]

Dear colleagues

It is with great sadness and pain that I tell you that
Japie Vermeulen died tragically on the night of Sunday 11
February. He was on his way back from visiting family in 
Ceres, about a two-hour journey from Cape Town. He had 
taken a route through Bain's Kloof, a spectacular pass 
over the mountains between Ceres and Wellington. It was 
established that his car was overheating, the radiator was 
found to be empty and there was a hole in a water pipe. He 
had taken a container and attempted to descend a steep 
path to fetch water from a stream. He slipped and fell 
10 to 15 metres, hitting his head and fracturing his skull. 
He died instantly. His body was eventually found, after a 
search, at 5pm on Monday.

All who knew Japie will mourn a wonderful human being and a 
brilliant mind. 

______________________________________________________________________

Prof Christopher Gilmour,             E-mail: CRAG@maths.uct.ac.za 
Department of Mathematics             Phone:   +27-(0) 21-650-4065
and Applied Mathematics,                            or    650-3192
University of Cape Town,              Fax:     +27-(0) 21-650-2334
Rondebosch 7701,
South Africa