The International Centre for Mechanical Sciences announces with the deepest sorrow that Professor Sándor Kaliszky passed away in Budapest on April 10, 2016.

Recalling his long and untiring cooperation with the Centre as Rector from 1986 until 2001 and Member of the Scientific Council for over 30 years, we shall miss the esteemed scientist and the man of great humanity.

Professor Kaliszky obtained a degree in civil engineering in 1950 at the Technical University of Budapest and defended his doctoral dissertation in 1962.
First Lecturer at the Faculty of Mechanics, Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Budapest and then Research Associate at the Building Science Institute until 1955.
Successively Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor from 1963 on. From 1971 until 1993 Head of the Mechanics Department (later Department of Structural Mechanics). Since 1998, Professor Emeritus
Between 1967 and 1973, he was also Vice Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering. He taught and researched also at a number of foreign institutions: University of Southampton (UK, 1964-1965), Monash University, Melbourne (1973), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1980-1981, 1984-1985).
From 1986 to 2001 he was Resident Rector of CISM.

Correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Science in 1990 and full member in 1995. From 1993 to 1996 leader of the Applied Mechanics Research Group of this Academy.
Past chairman of the Hungarian National Committee of the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), member of the International Association of Bridges and Structural Engineering (IABSE), and the International Council of Associations of Science (ICSU). Member of the editorial board of several scientific journals.

His research interests comprised plastic design of reinforced concrete slabs, limit state analysis, optimal design of ductile structures, soil and structure interaction, analysis of large panel buildings, topology optimization and computational models.

He is author or co-author of thirteen books and book chapters, and more of than one hundred and fifty scientific publications.

For his activity he received many awards, among them the Academic Award (1966), the Budapest University of Technology Medal (1993), the Cracow University Gold Medal (1995), Coins of the University of Liège (1995), Albert Szent-Györgyi Prize (1997), Ipolyi Arnold science Development Award (1997, Hungarian Scientific Research Fund) and the Széchenyi Prize (1998).

Funeral address for Sándor Kaliszky, on May 9, 2016
By Wilhelm Schneider

Dear family and friends of Sándor,

Let me apologize for speaking to you in English. I have never before felt so much regret for not being able to understand, and to speak, Hungarian.

Above all, I should like to say that I consider it a great honor – but also a great obligation – to represent CISM (the International Centre of Mechanical Sciences), located in Udine, and to forward the sincere condolences from the Rectors, the Secretary General as well as the Deputy Secretary General to the family and all friends in Budapest.

Kaliszky Sándor was a most remarkable man. He had many, very many talents – but, he tried to hide them, always avoiding to show other people his superior intellectual abilities. This, and other qualities, made Sándor a very lovely person. I doubt that he ever had an enemy, but I am sure he had very many friends, and it was of great importance to Sándor to foster his friendships.

Last Friday, there was the meeting of the Scientific Council of CISM. The rector who chaired the meeting asked the members to rise, and he gave an account of Sándor’s achievements for CISM. Afterwards, I have heard many colleagues express their regret about Sándor’s absence – the terminal absence, as we had to realize, though it was hard to believe.

Sándor’s relation to CISM was a long and fruitful one: He was a member of the Scientific Council for more than 30 years, and he served as Resident Rector from 1985 to 2001 (that was 1 year more than three full terms).

CISM was an essential part of Sándor’s life – and vice versa. To give evidence for that, numerous stories could be told. Here I can provide only two illustrative examples.

When someone had to be found to take over the job of Secretary General, Sándor spared no effort and, eventually, travelled to Padova to interview the candidate on the spot. Incidentally, I had the pleasure to accompany Sándor on that trip and to spend an unforgettable evening with him in Italy.

Moreover, when Sandor, after serving as Resident rector for 10 years, wanted to retire, mainly with the idea to spend more time with his beloved family, we – his colleagues at CISM – made it clear to him that it was too early to leave CISM without his guidance. He accepted another term of five years. However, when those five years were over, we persuaded him to continue his duties until he had found a suitable successor. That took another year, with his family waiting until husband, father and grandfather could spend more time at home.

At CISM, Sándor proved to be an excellent organizer, gifted with a fantastic memory. It was incredible how many things he could tell “by heart”, as he used to say, while the colleagues were desperately searching their papers. He made his decisions calmly, with natural authority. For him, speaking in a loud voice has never been necessary.

Sándor’s duties as Resident Rector also covered social activities. With courtesy, a smile on his face, he always created a pleasant atmosphere. Everybody, from course participants to lecturers, from accompanying persons to politicians, felt welcome. Kaliszky Sándor was the soul of CISM.

Allow me to add a few personal words. When we served together as rectors – he as the “primus inter pares” – it happened from time to time that we thought differently about a particular problem. Then our discussion could become quite lively. Mostly, we eventually came to a consensus – and if that could not be achieved, we always ended the discussion with the mutual assurance “We are still friends”.

It was part of our duties at CISM to evaluate proposals of courses. Thus, Sándor and I regularly talked about the scientific work of others.

However, Sándor was too modest to talk about his own scientific work. One could only get a glimpse of his scientific interests when he allowed himself to make a mild joke about the relative importance of solid vs. fluid mechanics. Therefore, to my regret, I had to leave it to better-qualified colleagues to pay tribute to Sándor’s scientific achievements.

I should like to finish by offering my sincere condolences to Sándor’s family – his sons, his daughters-in-law, and his grandchildren. As far as I am concerned, I lost not only an important colleague, I also lost a good friend. I cannot tell how much I shall miss Sándor. I can only say, for the last time, “Mi mindig barátok vagyunk“.