PREFACE AND IN MEMORIAM PHILIPPE BOXUS

The ISHS Board of Directors

NOTE TO THE AUTHORS
The authors and editors of this proceedings had prepared all the papers following the instructions as are normally provided by the ISHS. However, after submission of the whole volume for publication, the Publication Committee of the ISHS had implemented the new lay-out of Acta Horticulturae manuscripts. Therefore, you will notice that the appearance of your paper is different from what you had initially submitted. Rearrangement of the paper lay-out was made by the ISHS Secretariat and the ISHS takes full responsibility for any possible mistakes that might have slipped into the final text as compared to the original. We regret any inconvenience caused by this.

Editors

To Philippe Boxus
The Proceedings of 4th International Strawberry Symposium

IN MEMORIAM
Philippe BOXUS 1934 – 2000

As Chairman of the European Cooperation of the Cost "Integrated Research in Berries", Philippe Boxus participated in the 4th ISHS Strawberry Symposium in Tampere and presented, in the name of the European group, the European joint action on strawberry
Three months later, the international community specializing in in vitro culture and strawberry learned, with profound sadness, of the untimely passing of Philippe, during the oral defence of a thesis that he was adjudicating. His passing leaves a great emptiness in our scientific community, and reminds us of the departure four years earlier, in similar circumstances and again much too early, of our friend Pascuale Rosati. Philippe was an Agronomy Engineer, a qualified teacher, with degree from the Catholic University of Louvain, and a Doctor of State. In 1997 the University of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences of Cluj—Napoca in Rumania awarded him an Honorary Doctorate. Philippe carried out his life’s work at the Centre of Agronomic Research in Gembloux (Belgium). He began his research in the Phyto-Virology Laboratory, dealing with the identification of viral diseases of fruit crops in 1962. Then, from 1966 to 1972, he worked at the Fruit and Vegetable Crop Research Station. He helped to set up the virus sanitation programme for prune and strawberry. Taking forward the efforts of Prof. Morel, he worked out an industrial process for the accelerated culture of strawberry plants by in vitro micropropagation of meristems (an internationally patented process). This process was further developed in numerous countries and has been the basis for the eradication of virus diseases of a number of crops. In 1989, he was appointed Director of the Research Station. In 1994, until his retirement in December 1999, he served as Director of the Department of Biotechnology.
Philippe knew how to get along with people, and how to communicate. He participated actively in numerous horticultural scientific societies in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe, and delivered courses at numerous engineering schools and universities worldwide. He gave always an enthusiastic response when there was talk of equipping a country with in vitro culture laboratories, establishing a healthy basis for the local implementation of fruit crop propagation.
Together we participated in various missions of prospecting in Eastern Europe and in South America, looking for wild and old genetic resources of strawberry that might be reintroduced to our European repository. From 1991, he was at our side helping to build and support European collaboration, which now comprises more than one hundred specialists from 22 European countries, working together to propose to growers and to consumers of the 21st century a healthy and tasty European strawberry.
Philippe was not a man of protocol but a man of convictions, who always put his trust in the most rigorous scientific method. He was also a cheerful man, known for his good humour (one enjoyed laughing with him), He always knew how to bring the human side of things to the foreground. In team work one felt comfortable at his side, well supported and advised.
With Françoise, his wife, Philippe contributed generously to numerous social and humanitarian causes and his house was a “crossroads of the world”. We have prematurely lost a great friend, a model among men. We will not easily forget his smile. And when he said " It's OK, " we knew we could count on him.

Philippe ROUDEILLAC, Lanxade, Prigonrieux, France

OPENING REMARKS
Friends, Colleagues and Honoured Guests,
On behalf of the International Society for Horticultural Science, it is with great pride and pleasure that I welcome delegates to the Fourth International Strawberry Symposium. Strawberry is an important horticultural crop in Finland and Finnish scientists have long been strong contributors to the Council of our Society. Thus, it is very appropriate that you are meeting in this beautiful northern country.
At the start let me congratulate the team of organizers, let by Dr. Tarja Hietaranta, for the high quality announcements, local arrangements, development of the scientific program, and overall organization for this symposium. They have performed an important and much appreciated service on behalf of international horticultural science. In addition to a high quality scientific program, you will be treated to excellent excursions and social events. These latter will provide ample opportunity for you to become better acquainted with the local industry and its research support and to enjoy the famous hospitality of the Finnish people.
Relatively small, focussed ISHS-sponsored symposia continue to be popular with horticulturists around the world, and the volumes of Acta Horticulturae arising from these meetings are widely recognized as important sources of new information about horticultural crops and their production technologies. It is not surprising, therefore, that increasing numbers of your colleagues around the world are viewing the ISHS, with its wide array of Sections, Commissions and Working Groups, as the preferred place to spend the limited time and financial resources they have for travel and networking. Thus, I am pleased to report that President Brickell, the Board of Directors and the other elected leaders of the ISHS on its Executive Committee, together with the ISHS Secretariat, continue to explore ways to facilitate even better international meetings and to edit, prepare and publish ever more professional volumes of Acta Horticulturae.
Your presence here today is testimony to your interest and respect for the ISHS, but I would urge each of you to take the next step and explore avenues for developing your leadership potential within the framework of this Society. There is certainly scope and opportunity for honing your organizational and leadership skills as a symposium convener, Working Group leader, or as a Chair of one of the Society’s six Sections and 12 Commissions. The International Horticultural Congress, the next to be held in Toronto August 11-17, 2002, represents another opportunity to gain experience as a colloquium, symposium, or workshop convener. As President of this XXVI^th Congress I have a special interest in seeing new leaders step onto the international stage!
Now just a few words about your scientific program and its potential impact. The exploration of concepts and techniques relevant to sustainable crop production is emerging as one of the most important research areas for the new century. Thus, I am pleased to note that you will specifically discuss issues in sustainable production during this Fourth Symposium. Even in those sessions where environmental responsibility is not the central theme, many presentations at this symposium will reflect the fact that researchers and the industry at large now fully understand that there is great public concern about the long-term health of our farmlands, the safety of our ground water, and even the wholesome nature of our fruit and fruit products.
This meeting provides an excellent opportunity to consider all of the inputs into strawberry production, to identify those that could threaten the long-term health of the industry, and to propose new practices and technologies that are truly ”sustainable”. The outcome of meetings such as this can contribute importantly to the development of public policy relating to food and agriculture, and I would urge you to get involved with such discussions when you return to your home base.
The permanent reference to this symposium will be your personal volume of Acta Horticulturae. It will join the excellent two-volume edition (No. 439) that arose from your 1996 meeting at Veldhoven and equally useful volumes (No. 348, Beltsville, 1992; and No. 265, Cesena, 1988) arising from earlier meetings. Indeed, this series of books is an excellent reference set for strawberry researchers everywhere. Among other values, it documents the great progress being made toward reaching the industry goal of environmentally and economically sustainable production of a product the public understands and trusts to be a delicious and healthy food.
In conclusion, I wish for each of you a highly successful week of learning, sharing your knowledge and experiences, and simply enjoying the hospitality of your hosts and company of your colleagues. I look forward to hearing the outcome of your discussions about conveners and locations for the next symposium and I thank Dr. John Maas, Fruit Section Director, for representing me during these deliberations.

Chair ISHS Fruit Section