Louis, known as “Loulou”, arrived at CERN in 1970. He began his engineering career at the PS Booster under the leadership of Helmut Reich and Gianni Gelato, then later moved to the SPS to join Raymond Rausch’s team, where he worked on the communication system for the SPS computers (TITN).

During the construction of LEP, he joined the Network Management (NM) section under Patrick Lienard, which was responsible for reconfiguring the token-ring control network. Continuing to work in the NM section during the construction of the LHC, he was put in charge of the selection and installation of the routers for the FDDI (fibre distributed data interface) communication network.

Following the restructuring under Robin Lauckner (LHC Controls Coordination), the NM section was moved to the IT division. Thanks to his in-depth knowledge of communication technologies, Louis was promoted to take over responsibility for the digital telephone network in the division.

Louis was an excellent colleague, proactive, reliable and devoted to the Organization. He was always ready and willing to invest energy and time in supporting interns and visitors. He was a good listener and everyone always turned to him for wise advice.

He loved to organise social gatherings, whether at CERN or at home, and unforgettable moments abounded. We followed his sporting endeavours with curiosity and interest: he was a committed and enthusiastic golf, tennis and volleyball player (he coached women’s volleyball teams in Geneva) and a keen amateur cyclist.

He faced his illness with his usual discretion, to avoid worrying his family and friends, and we always hoped that he would beat it.

Loulou, we’ll miss you.

His colleagues and friends