On Wednesday evening, April 27, the University of Washington Information School community lost Efthimis Efthimiadis, a beloved friend, colleague and community member. Efthi was an Associate Professor at the iSchool.  He was 54 years old.

"When I came to Seattle twelve years ago, the first invitation that my family received was to a dinner at Efthi's house," said Information School Dean and Professor Harry Bruce. "He was a warm, loving, cheerful soul. Throughout his battle with a cruel illness he displayed inspirational courage; he also never lost the qualities that made him so dear to our community - his sense of optimism and fun. We will miss him greatly."

Dr. Efthimiadis was an internationally respected authority on the user-centered design and evaluation of information retrieval systems. He earned his MSc (1984) and PhD (1992) from the City University, London, UK. He was extremely active in the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), which elected him as Director-at-Large in 2008. He taught in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, prior to joining the University of Washington faculty in 1997.

The thoughts and prayers of the iSchool community are with Efthi's wife, Jagoda, and their son, Nicholas. A memorial service is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 7th.

We invite all those who join the university in mourning his loss to share their remembrances at:

http://efthi.ischool.uw.edu.