We deeply mourn the untimely departure of our dear friend and colleague Johan Blouw, who unexpectedly passed away on Monday, September 5, 2016, leaving behind a wife and three children. After a PhD thesis with the HERMES experiment and a postdoc position with BaBar, Johan joined LHCb in 2003, where his excellent background in computing was of great help in the efforts to launch the then nascent field of grid-computing. In addition, as a member of the LHCb Silicon Tracker project, he contributed to the R&D efforts and the construction of the LHCb silicon strip detectors.

After the completion of the detector, Johan moved on to work on the alignment of the tracking system, and recently became a central player in the growing LHCb ion physics programme, analysing Run 1 proton-lead data and contributing to making the Run 2 ion-ion and fixed-target plans a reality.

In July this year, he left the group at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics to join a software company in Heidelberg. All who had the pleasure to know him will miss a person with good humour who was always ready to help, who brought enthusiasm, dedication and kindness to each team he was on.

His colleagues and friends