In the evening of Friday 10 August 2018, the Partnership for Peace Consortium lost one of its most faithful and dedicated Steering Committee members. Jean d’Andurain (LtCol Ret., French Army) passed away quietly following a stroke suffered in June 2017.

Jean d’Andurain was the creator of NATO’s Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) which the PfP Consortium has been helping support. Jean was also an important figure encouraging the setting up and maintenance of the Partnership Training and Education Center (PTEC) located at the George C. Marshall Center. His vision was never encumbered by parochialism, and he always kept his sights firmly focused on the goal of seeing the full integration (in every sense of the word) of former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact countries within Euro-Atlantic structures and philosophy. He fell gravely ill doing what he believed in, what he loved, with people with whom he was not always in agreement, but whom he always respected.

Those who knew him regret his passing, for his time on this earth was too short to accomplish what he thought was needed. It is perhaps fitting, then, that as the shooting star that he was, he left us on the weekend of the Perseid meteor showers. Every year on the same weekend, as we are regaled with this celestial spectacle, we will feel like he is visiting us. That sentiment will be impossible to avoid, for such was his generosity.

Jean’s funeral was held at Église Saint-Jacques in Locquirec, in France’s lovely Brittany region, Thursday 16 August 2018. The morning drizzle gave way to beautiful sunshine, so that when the 200-250 people who were massed in the humble 17th century church came out, they could walk to the nearby cemetery where Jean was laid to rest.

Jean’s dedication and integrity will be sorely missed – and his example all the harder to follow. We are fortunate not only to have known him, but also for the work he leaves behind for us to complete in his name and memory.

Mon cher Jean, ce n’est qu’un au revoir.