Dear Members of the European Council of Engineers Chambers,
dear readers, dear friends,

It is with great sadness that we must announce that our colleague and friend, Prof. Ing. Alois Materna, CSc., MBA, passed away last Tuesday on 28 November 2023 at the age of 78.

Since 2011 Prof. Materna was an active and dedicated representative of the Czech Chamber of Chartered Engineers and technicians in construction (ČKAIT) in the ECEC network and has contributed greatly to European building culture.

He dedicated his work to life-long and Higher Education in various universities as well as in the Czech Federal Chamber, where he acted as first vice-president and national delegate to foreign professional chambers and international organisations. He worked in economic and insurance committees of ČKAIT and chaired the editorial board of the Energy self-sufficient buildings magazine. He also chaired the regional office of ČKAIT in Brno and the ČKAIT scientific council of the Brno area.

Within the ECEC he contributed his profound professional and academic knowledge in several fields of expertise ranging from public procurement, digitalisation issues to CPD and regulatory questions. He was tireless in his efforts to enhance engineering cooperation between countries, regions and also between generations.

As well as being an excellent expert and educator, he was a dear friend to many of us. We could always count on his kindness and his dry humour, which made our common work so much more enjoyable. Thank you, Alois!

The last farewell will take place on December 6, 2023, at 2p.m. in the ceremonial hall of the crematorium of the city of Brno.

Alois Materna will always be remembered with great respect and sadly missed by his friends in the ECEC.

We express our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.
 

Klaus Thürriedl and the ECEC Executive Board