Liviu Gozariu (1930–2012)

It is with great sadness that we announce here the death of a former editor of our journal. Professor Liviu Gozariu took over the editorial activity and the management of the journal Clujul Medical just after the political changes of 1989 in Romania. In that period of political changes and social troubles, he kept alive our publication. He shared with me the memories of the hard times when he struggled to get funding for the journal, to obtain paper from charities etc. When he retired in 1995, he left this journal in a very healthy state. He was born on July 29th 1930 in Carei, but soon moved to Cluj-Napoca with his family; thus he grew up and was educated in this city. He decided to become a medical doctor and started the medical studies after an admission exam at the medical school of Cluj-Napoca, which he graduated in 1955 with a merit diploma. Soon after the graduation he became a leader of his generation, due to his ability to combine skills for laboratory research with clinical practice. And the field that combined the best of basic and clinical activity in those years was endocrinology. Therefore Dr. Liviu Gozariu became specialist in endocrinology, training and obtaining a PhD degree from the famous Parhon Institute in Bucharest. He continued his professional achievement by training stages in Prague and Liverpool, and mainly during a long research fellowship of the Humboldt Foundation in Ulm and Heidelberg. In Germany he became one of the first students focusing on calcitonin and he became an outstanding specialist in the metabolism of calcium. Back in Romania, Professor Gozariu followed the steps of a successful academic career, becoming in 1980 the head of the department of endocrinology of the Cluj medical school. In this position he stimulated the development of the hospital of endocrinology, by founding a new building of this hospital; he became a popular physician with the endocrinological patients from Transylvania and also a rigorous scientist. His main contributions in the scientific field were: a new method for calcitonin isolation, the effect of the adrenal system on the secretion of calcitonin, studies on parathormone, of the goiter, of the insulin in Turner syndrome etc. He published more than 430 papers and books and supported the professional development of many disciples throughout his life. He accepted also administrative duties, serving as scientific secretary of the senate of the Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca. Beside the activity as editor of Clujul Medical, he served many years as associate editor of Acta Endocrinologica, and was also in the editorial board of Magnesium Research. He was a founding member of the European Society on Calcified Tissues, member of the French and German Societies of Endocrinology. He was elected in 1992 full member of the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences. Among the honorary titles and awards he received, we mention: Honorary President of the Romanian Society of Endocrinology; honorary professor of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy ”Gr. T. Popa” Iași, the Purkinje Medal of the Czechoslovakian Society of Internal Medicine. He received the Victor Babeş Award of the Romanian Academy in 1975, Honorary Diploma of the Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca în 1990 and 1995, and of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila Bucharest in 2007. He passed away on October 11th 2012, after 2 years of fighting against a serious disease. We shall miss his experience and advice, also his elegant and cultivated presence in the academic milieu. He is survived by his wife and a daughter who continues the medical tradition of the family.