In Memoriam: Ernst Paarkooper

Ernst Paardekooper died Wednesday 6 November at the age of 88. Ernst Paardekooper started his career at TNO Nutrition in Zeist after graduating from Delft University of Technology. At the end of his career, he was divisional manager of the Food Technology and Microbiology departments. When he retired in 2002, however, he was far from finished sharing knowledge.

Paardekooper was a visionary,he wanted to make everyone aware of new developments and inform about them. He was a valuable source and liaison for the professional magazine Voedingsindustrie and the OSV network. He knew the market and had a huge network in the food industry. 

He wanted to share all the knowledge he had gathered over the years, preferably all at once. You didn't have to tell him anything about innovations - he often knew about them before they became public knowledge. He was also actively involved in various developments. On behalf of EHEDG, of which he was chairman for many years, but also through Stichting Amplitude. 

"Ernst was a curious person with an incredible amount of knowledge. He was open to new insights, wanted to learn and exchange knowledge. He often came to brainstorm with us; then we were flooded with information. Unfortunately it was impossible to do something with all the input, but there were always one or two subjects that we started working on seriously. If we had questions or were looking for contacts, no problem, he was always able to make time to help," says Judith Witte, editor-in-chief of vakblad Voedingsindustrie.  

"I remember that in the recovery period after his tia (more than 10 years ago), he was unable to drive," says Saskia Stender, publisher of vakblad Voedingsindustrie and organiser of OSV. "Then we picked him up or drove him to St.-Michielsgestel to brainstorm. He also enjoyed attending meetings of our Ondernemers Sociëteit Voedingsindustrie (OSV) where he was an honorary member. We arranged transport so he could be there. Until he could drive himself again. Ernst was a go-getter. He trained until he was strong enough to get behind the wheel. After that he was active in our sector for many years. I admire that. If everyone tells you that you can never drive a car again, just prove that you can. This was Ernst in a nutshell!"