In memoriam: Steven A. Huesing (1944-2009).

On Sunday, April 12, 2009, Steven A. Huesing passed away. Since 1997 Steven Huesing was Executive Director of IMIA the International Medical Informatics Association [1]. In this prominent role he provided for many years signif icant and global contributions to the progress of our f ield. It was through his tireless work that IMIA has developed into the leading international association that it is today. When coming in touch with IMIA, many colleagues f irst communicated with him. And often he remained the major link to our association. As indicated by the messages, IMIA received after his death, colleagues of all parts of our world deeply miss him [2]. The sentence “IMIA presidents and other off icers were coming and going, and Steven was always there“, taken from this book of condolence, describes so well how many of us valued and respected him. Steven Huesing was born on September 8, 1944 in Bensheim, Germany. He moved to Canada with his mother and step-father, when he was 8 years old. At the beginning of Steven Huesing’s career in the 1960s, computers were still considered avant-garde and risky, even in a mainstream industry. Steven Huesing was a registered industrial and cost accountant. In 1967 he earned his CMA designation in at the University of Alberta. His interests in health informatics flourished, while he f illed senior administrative CFO and CIO roles with hospitals and government. His many accomplishments included [3]: • Serving Canada’s Health Informatics Association (COACH) in many capacities, including as Founding President (1975-78); Executive Director (1980-99), and editor of the COACH history book, covering 1975-2005. • Being the only Canadian to serve as President of IBM’s user group, Electronic Computing Health Oriented (ECHO) from 1983 to 1987. • Starting Healthcare Information Management & Communications Canada (HCIM&C), the only health informatics magazine in Canada for Fig. 1 Steven Huesing (1944 2009)