Dr. Eduard J. Gubelin, one of the forefathers of modern gemmology, and who was a Founding Organizing Member as well as an Honorary Member of the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA), passed away in Lucerne, Switzerland in March at the age of 91. Dr. Gubelin was the grandfather of ICA Director Edward Boehm. %% Dr. Gubelin joined his father's - Eduard Gubelin Sr - gems ad jewellery business during the first quarter of the twentieth century and was soon directed toward gemmology as his father established a state-of-the-art gemmological laboratory in Lucerne. Gubelin himself became well known throughout the world for his tremendous research and work in gemmology. He was the author of numerous publications, spanning many decades, including the classic Internal World of Gemstones: Documents from Space & Time (1974), which showed how the direct source of gemstones might be identified by their inclusions. Today, the Gubelin Gem Lab in Lucerne continues to be one of the best-known, prestigious gemmological laboratories.

Great Father Whose Children We Are...

Richard W. Hughes, of the American Gem Trade Association Gem Testing Laboratory (AGTAGTL) condoles Dr. Gubelin's death with the following message: %% "I had the opportunity a decade ago to assist him in compiling a bibliography of his writings. As I perused the listings, I was struck by the sheer breathe of his work. And so often as I travelled to remote areas in pursuit of gems, I found myself travelling paths that he had blazed decades before. %% While he is known first and foremost as a gemologist, his life was so much more. Dr. Gubelin was a Renaissance Man in the old-school style. Author, artist, filmmaker, traveler, poet. He had a love for life and living and that always came through in his writings. His death saddens us greatly. Dr. Eduard Gubelin was the father of modern gemmology. We are all his children."