A Tribute To Andy Sundberg

by: Tony Hinder

I first met Andy over 40 years ago when we were both working at the Battelle Institute in Carouge. Although my memories of this period are now rather vague, I distinctly recall Andy’s warm and caring attitude, as well as his strong political convictions which I largely shared. We lost contact in the mid seventies, when I was posted to Morocco and then to Brussels, although our common friends kept me abreast of his various exploits, political and other.

I also seem to recall seeing him again on a couple of occasions at reunions of ex-Battellistes after I returned to Geneva in the early eighties. Then in 2007, an ex-Burlie – Tony Murdoch – called me up to say that he’d mentioned my name to Andy, who asked him to invite me to your next meeting. It was great seeing Andy again after all these years and meeting you all.

I subsequently became a fervent fan of the Burlamaqui evenings and I believe I have attended every one over the past 3 years or so, except on the odd occasion when I was travelling. I have to say how much I admired Andy’s sense of organisation and all the hard work he put in to make these dinners such a success.  I also enjoyed all of the e-mails and press articles he sent out on a regular basis to keep us up to date on events both in the US and the wider world.

While we certainly owe it to Andy to keep the Burlamaqui Club alive, it will be very difficult to replace him. By the way, I’m very much a squirrel when it comes to hoarding e-mails and other documents and I have kept in my archives all of the “APS” mails he has sent out over the past 3 years

I would be delighted to pass these on to anyone of you who are interested. A word of warning, though: there are 135 of these mails totalling over 14 MB !

So thanks a million Andy for your friendship, for keeping us up to date on what’s going on in the world, for giving us the opportunity to listen to so many interesting presentations and to debate often controversial issues in a relaxed and constructive atmosphere over an excellent meal.

You will be fondly remembered.