ICMM has lost a great friend following the sad passing of long-standing Associate Member, Jobst Heemeyer, after a prolonged illness.  Jobst was the descendant of a Hamburg family that enjoyed great success in the shipping and hotel industries.  Of independent means, he assembled over the years an extraordinary collection of historic  vessels (including several large steam yachts) and veteran cars (mostly racing and sports cars) and was deeply knowledgeable in both these fields.  Jobst was possibly unique in ICMM’s history in that, to best of my knowledge, he had no direct affiliations with any maritime museum.  Instead, as he remarked to me on several occasions, he enjoyed the general camaraderie of ICMM itself.

I first met Jobst and his partner, Ingrid, at the 1988 ICMM interim meeting in Sydney, Australia (my first encounter with ICMM).  They were already ICMM stalwarts, and remained so right through to our 2015 Congress in Hong Kong. 

Jobst and Ingrid often came to ICMM meetings in a unique style: a wonderful 1960s mobile home van!  They loved it for the independence it gave them.  I even recall times when Jobst arranged with the Director of the host museum to park their van in the museum grounds, thus allowing Jobst and Ingrid to live on-site for the duration of the Congress!

We will remember Jobst fondly and extend our sincere condolences to Ingrid.

Kevin Fewster, former President, ICMM.