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Janusz Kozakiewicz

The Montreal Protocol Secretariat is very sad to hear of the passing of Professor Janusz Kozakiewicz, who was often called the Doyen of the Montreal Protocol. Janusz has been a part of and a friend to many in the ozone family since 1993 when he became Head of the Office for Ozone Layer and Climate Protection at the Institute of Industrial Chemistry in Warsaw, Poland. In the field of ozone layer protection, he was not only active in Poland and the European Union but also internationally.

He participated in the meetings of the Montreal Protocol spanning three decades since first accompanying the Polish delegation as an expert in 1994. Janusz was known and appreciated for his fastidious learning, developing a broad and extensive understanding of Montreal Protocol issues. He was a prolific supporter of the various bodies of the Protocol and served as Rapporteur for the Bureau Meeting of the Parties in 1994 and again in 1999, as well as a Co-Chair of the Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in 2004. He was also an active member of the Protocol’s Implementation Committee for many years and was its Vice President in 2012 and its President in 2013.

In recognition for his extraordinary contributions and service he received the Outstanding Contributions Award from the Montreal Protocol Secretariat in 2007.

Parties and the ozone community benefitted greatly from his vast expertise and focus on issues such as trade regulations of ozone-depleting substances and enforcement of the Montreal Protocol. He will be greatly missed by all of us in the ozone community.