Page 46 - Bulletin, Vol.78 No.2, June 2019

His global experience led to a deep understanding of the United Nations family of
organizations which formed the backdrop to his book in the “tell me about...” series.
Jean-Jacques’ monograph is on the United Nations; it was described by the then UN
Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, as “a simple, clear and concise account of the history
and work of the United Nations”.

******

By Elisabeth BELCHAMBER

Jean-Jacques joined the AAFI-AFICS Committee at around the same time as I was
elected for the first time. We had never worked together or even known each other
previously but despite our frequent arguments on matters of form, there was a mutual
respect and friendship, largely because of his wicked sense of humour.

He became President of AFICS, somewhat reluctantly because he loved flying and
feared he would not have time to do both. Then he failed to pass a regular fitness test
for pilots because of age and was able to throw himself entirely into the arduous and
time-consuming task of presiding a multi-national, cultural and scattered association of
UN retirees.

Unable to find someone who could devote sufficient energy and time to edit the AAFI-
AFICS Bulletin, and since he was virtually bi-lingual, he also started to edit the Bulletin; I
did much of the typing and he wrote, translated, proof-read and signed the “bons” for
the printers!

He continued to do much of this for many years and was specially known for his brilliant
1
translations of Aamir Ali’s articles, which were as amusing as Aamir’s original texts in
English punctuated with quotations from Shakespeare.

He was also an excellent cook and enjoyed preparing delicious meals for friends and
family. He recounted that returning from mission a little earlier than expected, he was
greeted by his children with *Oh, great. You are just in time to cook us lunch.

We all knew that Jean-Jacques health was failing, but he had recovered so many times
and continued to attend Committee meetings and other gatherings, that his death was a
shock and a great sadness for all those who knew him. I so much miss the e-mails he
sent: dreadful jokes but also panoramas, photos, poems, and the telephone calls asking
me to translate into English this or that article he had written or found, as well as a a
2
little book he had recently updated, “Tell me about … the United Nations” for a series
intended essentially for young people.

Our thoughts are with Maryvonne, his wife, and his children and grand-children.

Salut Jean-Jacques !

*******

1 Sadly Aamir died in December 2018
2 Published by NANE Editions, Paris. ISBN 978-2-84368-208-7. €9. (http://www.nane-editions.fr)

44 AAFI-AFICS BULLETIN, Vol. 78 No. 2, 2019-06