In memoriam Prof. RNDr. Jan Buchar, DrSc. (1932–2015).

During the opening ceremony of the 29th European congress of Arachnology held in Brno last year, Professor Jan Buchar recieved an enormous, long-lasting applause for his speech. It was his farewell address.

Jan Buchar passed away on 17th November 2015. He was a kind of “celebrity” of Czech as well as world arachnology. He was an important zoologist, the leading personality who notably influenced progress of arachnology from the 1960’s to the present days. Czech arachnologists called him “our Spider Father“, and this nickname summarizes it all. Jan Buchar was the founding father of large Czech arachnological school. He shared more than just his knowledge with several generations of Czech arachnologists
he shared his generous personality and much of his spare time.