Hugo De Cock - RIP 10/11/2017

It is with great sadness that I learnt of the death of Hugo de Cock, who was the inspiration behind this forum. He had been a great enthusiast for Mammillarias, and when I first met him some 13 years ago, I quickly learned how well he understood these plants and developed a significant collection. A few years later, he was asked to build a forum, primarily for the German Society AfM which Hugo stoutly maintained should allow views of all kinds, on taxonomy, culture etc. This quickly broadened into a more general forum for Mammillaria enthusiasts, which he and I built together. He was ill some years ago, and decided to part with his collection. It was shared between another Belgian and myself, and I have over 170 of his plants still growing as a part of my own collection.

This is not good news.

I did not know Hugo personally.
But we communicated a bit with each other on the www.
About Lithops. . . !!!

He was a nice and friendly plant friend!

My sincere condolences to his family and friends.


K.W.

Yes, after his recovery some years ago, he decided to start afresh and chose mesembs to grow and develop. I think he helped many people through his contacts on the www.

Very sad news indeed. He was a very kind and generous man. When I first visited ELK, I ended up drinking beers and chatting about everything but cacti (or succulents) with a group that included you, Chris, Hugo, Walter Hellinx and Wolfgang Plein. I will always cherish that afternoon and how welcome you all made me feel. This has been a terrible year, for that group is now down to three. I wish I was nearer to Belgium so I could help his wife Linda through the terrible time she is having.

Very sad indeed!
More sad news: Walter Hellinx passed away on October 22, after a long illness. He was a very dedicated grower of mammillarias, and had a very impressive collection when he was still healthy. He had already disposed of many of his plants last year, but despite that, he had ordered seeds at the beginning of 2017.
I will remember him mostly from the Mexico trips of 2004 and 2013, when he was a memnber of the group I was travelling with.

Wolter ten Hoeve.

Yes, Wolter. In the space of such a short time, we have lost two good people. We are the poorer for this.

Walter was a brother for me, and a great teacher.
500 plants of his collection are with me from 2015.

Prego Dio per te,
fratello mio.
Maurizio

Musing on the news of the loss of these two experts who did do much for cactus growing I wonder if they will be replaced. Are we seeing new enthusiasts coming along to replace people like this as age takes its toll? My own feeling about this question is 'no'. When I was much involved with the BCSS many years ago there was a noticeable dwindling in the number of people with the ability and enthusiasm to make 'disciples' out of those who attended Branch meetings or visited plant shows. I sincerely hope I may be proved wrong. This is most apposite as I shall be 80 next month!

So sad to hear of Hugo's passing. When I joined this forum he was still a very active member of this site and usually was one of the first members to reply to another members questions or identification of plants. So knowledgeable.