Our Secretary-General Ole Prehn passed away on 25 November 2008.
Ole was a tireless supporter of IAMCR and was voted in once again as secretary-general at the Stockholm congress in July.
I know that you will all be deeply saddened by this news. I have sent our condolences to his wife Jytte Smedegaard and to his colleagues at Aalborg University.
Ole was a light-touch administrator, guiding the association with a good memory and good humour. He was committed to the humanistic ideals of university life, to progressive values and applied scholarship. He told a good joke, enjoyed a good time and delighted in the cosmopolitanism of IAMCR. The association will miss his dedication and support and we will miss a generous and gentle colleague.
Ole's funeral was held on Saturday 30 November in the Chapel of Østre Kirkegaard and he was buried at the churchyard of Søndre Tranders Kirkegaard in Aalborg, Denmark
Ole Prehn was honoured and remembered by Per Jauert at the opening plenary of the Mexico Conference. He was further honoured at a session titled "Trends in Community Communication Research – A memorial session for Ole Prehn" held at the Community Communication Section.
Click on the links below to read these tributes:
- In Remembrance of Ole Prehn - By Per Jauert
- Remembering Ole Prehn - By Nicholas W. Jankowski
Below we have gathered condolence messages, memories and stories about Ole.
Annabelle Sreberny
President IAMCR
I am very sorry to hear about Ole Prehn. On behalf of the Compós - Brazilian Association of Post-Graduate Programmes in Communication-, I am sending our deepest condolences. Mr. Prehn will always be part of IAMCR and will certainly be remembered by all of its members.
Denize Araujo (Brazil)
I am saddened to hear this. It is indeed a great loss. I worked with him while in the Audience committee and learnt much from his wisdom. It was such a privilege to have had the brief working opportunity with him. I wish to onvey condolences to his family on behalf of the Media and Communications program in Melbourne.
Umi Khattab (Australia)
I am deeply saddened by the passing away of Secretary-General Ole Prehn. On behalf of AMIC I would like to convey our sincere condolences to Ole's family.
Indrajit Bannerjee (Singapore)
It is indeed a heart breaking and sad news. Ole had served, and served well, IAMCR in difficult and challenging times. My sincere condolences to Ole's family.
Mohammad A. Siddiqi (United States)
We are very saddened about this news. On behalf of the local organising committee of the 2009 IAMCR Conference, we send our sincere dondolences to Ole's family and to our community.
Aimée Vega Montiel (Mexico)
I was saddened greatly to read of Ole's passing, when I opened my email in Sydney this morning.
Ole served as Deputy Secretary General for several years before replacing me as Secretary General. I got to know and respect him during these years, discussing policy at meetings as well as having that beer together when the day's work was done.
Ole was an excellent colleague and a gentle man, soft spoken, with a pleasant sense of humour and a twinkle in his eye. He was also blessed with diplomatic and management skills of a high order, in addition to being a scholar of repute.
IAMCR is the poorer for his passing.
Naren Chitty (Australia)
I didin´t know Mr Prehn personally, but I can share your sorrow. My condolences to his family too.
Glaucia Davino (Brazil)
I am deeply sorry to know the death of our Secretary General Prof. Ole Prehn. Definately this news shocked us. I recall his long association and contribution in IAMCR and last congress in Stockholm, you know his health condition was not well even he fall asleep during the general assembly.
I expressed my sympathy to his family and pray to God for peace his departed soul.
Mohammad Sahid Ullah (Bangladesh)
I just opened my mail and am shocked and speechless. Such sad news.
Alina Bernstein (Israel)
This is really sad news. I know Ole since more than 20 years. We worked closely together in organizing the IAMCR Conference in Leipzig 1999. He was a wonderful person. We will miss him.
Condolences to his family.
Wolfgang Kleinwächter (Germany)
We the scholars from developing country would really miss Ole. I would like to convey our sincere condolences to Ole's family.
Durgadas Mukhopadhyay (India)
I would like to add my voice to the expressions of sadness at learning about Ole's sudden passing away.
He was a very important figure in IAMCR, a point of anchorage in the last years as we moved in various transition phases. He certainly viewed himself as such and I know he derived personal satisfaction in this position. It was both a modest and pivotal role, very much in the public image Ole projected.
His more private persona had a deep-seated sense of humour and a profound love of humanity. I will miss the twinkle in his eye.
Divina Frau-Meigs (France)
I just want to express my and colleagues' grief. We all knew Ole well and will miss him so much.
Eli Skogerbø (Norway)
It is very sad that Ole is no more with us! He has left a big gap in IAMCR. Hope that his wisdom will remain useful to the development of IAMCR.
Issa Maalim (United Kingdom)
Very sad news indeed - IAMCR is poorer without Ole. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Daya K. Thussu (United Kingdom)
The news is indeed sad and sorrowful. I always enjoyed Ole's company and his sense of humour. We served together for six years, four as President-elect and two as IAMCR President, and those years gave me an insight into the way he dealt with all and sundry.
I agree with Todd Holden that the in organisations like IAMCR, the individuals play a vital role.
I am sorry but the words do not come as easily for me as they did once,
Frank Morgan (Australia)
This is such sad, disturbing news.
On behalf of the Gender and Communication Section, I wish to express heartfelt condolences to Ole's family. As has been observed by others, Ole was quiet, efficient, wry, companionable and introspective. Administratively, he was quick to offer strong support to our section and wise counsel, when asked.
His passing reminds us of how precious and unpredictable life is. And, in a bittersweet way, we are also reminded so clearly of the fact that organizations are not faceless; they are comprised of flesh-and-blood parts with character and quirks. Things that the entire body feels deeply once they are gone.
In hopes that Ole lives on, though us.
Todd Holden (United States/Japan)
My heart felt sympathies and condolences to his family, friends and to you all.
May His Soul rest in perfect Peace.
Amie Joof Cole (Senegal)
With weighing, we receive the notice from the death of Ole. Our feelings of the Brazilian friends.
Maria Luiza Lobo (Brazil)
I am really shocked by the sad news of Ole's death. He was indeed a bulwarks of the IAMCR. We shall remember his tireless efforts to to keep IAMCR moving.
My condolences to Ole's family, and to all members of the IAMCR.
Yassen N. Zassoursky (Russian Federation)
Like so many IAMCR members I have been deeply saddened by the news about Olé Prehn. His contribution to the smooth running of IAMCR and its events was immense. He always radiated a sense of calmness and efficiency in his communications with us.
He will be much missed.
Garry Whannel (United Kingdom)
This is terribly sad news. Do convey my condolences to his wife and family.
Pradip Thomas (Australia)
I'm sorry to hear the news about Ole Prehn. I knew him briefly, having interacted with him mostly since the Cairo conference. He was kind and responsive to my questions, and had a good sense of humour.
My sincere condolences to his family.
Sujatha Sosale (United States)
The death of Ole is a shock to his family and friends, but also for the scholar world and for the IAMCR.
We must now continue his example and his path.
My sincere condolences.
Gabriel Kaplún (Uruguay)
What terrible terrible news. I knew Ole for many years before he was Secretary General; he was a down home grassroots guy who knew how to get to the core of an issue without taking himself too seriously - it must
have driven crazy those who knew him only as a Dean!
I will quietly hoist a glass in his memory tonight, and hopefully again with many of you in Mexico City.
Marc Raboy (Canada)
Such sad news... almost impossible to take in.
I first met Ole when organising the Sydney conference, when he stood by the organising committee during often tense deliberations. I will always remember and be grateful for his warm welcome when I was elected back onto the International Council in 2004, and in 2006 I had the opportunity to share a quiet and reflective lunch with him during the closing moments of the Cairo conference when his talk was all about the house in Spain and hopes for a happy and long retirement. I am desperately sorry for him, and for his family, that those hopes will now not be realised.
IAMCR friendships take on a particular character... forged in stolen moments at annual or bi-annual meetings... but they create the background on which our academic identities are traced and our intellectual development depends.
IAMCR and its members owe a lot to Ole for the staunchness of his support for the organisation and for his commitment to ensuring that the space for that development has remained available for us.
Thank you Ole!
Virginia Nightingale (Australia)
Although I did not know Ole that well, it always struck me what a kind and gentle person he was, in the moments that I have met him.
My sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.
Jo Pierson (Belgium)
It is with great sadness that we have learned about the death of Professor Ole Prehn, Secretary General of IAMCR (International Association for Media and Communication Research).
We consider his death a profound loss for the field of Media and Communication Studies. Professor Prehn played a major role in international academic cooperation in the field of media and communication studies and he was a dedicated and much-valued colleague.
Because we learned of the terrible news just after the opening of the 2nd European Communication Conference that is taking place this week in Barcelona, we will use the opportunity of the closing ceremony, Friday evening, to mourn his passing and pay tribute to his memory.
I have expressed the sincere condolences of ECREA to Ole Prehn's family, friends and colleagues.
François Heinderyckx (Belgium)
I only received the news about the passing away of Ole now. I am very schoked because I saw him in Stockholm and he was very well and happy. It's indeed a great loss to IAMCR. Personally, I would like to say that I was very honored to work with him and the other members of the past executive board.
I will remember him as a very friendly person, that could be, at the same time, efficient and calm in all situations. To the Latin American and Brazilian people, I can say that he helped us to develop our inclusive propositions with his pragmatist approach. Rest in peace.
César Bolano (Brazil)
The news that IAMCR Secretary General passing on November 27, was received with great sadness at Cairo University and the American University in Cairo in which I worked closely with Ole to host IAMCR in Egypt.
Ole was a very helpful and decent scholar able to lead and guide. On behalf of my colleagues, I like to express my sadness and hope that his wisdom will remain useful for the future of IAMCR.
Basyouni Hamada (Egypt)
I find myself very shocked to learn of Ole's death.
Ole supported us all in so many ways. He contributed greatly to IAMCR during his long commitment to our Association and he influenced and encouraged a great many scholars all over the world.
Like all of you, I will remember him very warmly indeed.
Robin Mansell (United Kingdom)
I was also shocked to read about the death of Prof. Ole Prehn.
May God rest his soul in peace.
Ernest Mrutu (Tanzania)
I am really shocked after hearing the death news of our Secretary-General Ole Prehn. With the death of Professor Prehn, the IAMCR lost an eminent educationists and an organizer.
Please, do convey my deep condolences and sympathy to the family members of late professor.
Md Enamul Haque (Bangladesh)
My condolences to all of you for the loss of Ole Prehn, notably to his family and his closest friends.
Ole represented distinctly the continuity through the changes of the association throughout the 1990s and through the first decade of this century. His sudden and too premature loss spreads a sad 'end of an epoch' feeling.
Sophia Kaitatzi-Whitlock (Greece)
Media and communication educators lost an important figure today, a man of excellent principle and faith. Like all who admired him, I am deeply saddened to learn of Ole Prehn's passing. Ole was a man of great passion who made our association better by standing for that in which he truly believed. I am particularly grateful to have worked closely with Ole in preparation for the IAMCR Cairo conference in 2006.
I'd like to offer my deepest prayers and condolences to the Prehn's family. He will be greatly missed, but I'm sure that his memory will be cherished and his contribution to the IAMCR will be remembered.
Hussein Amin (Egypt)