When he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of the heaven so fine
That all the world shall be in love with night.
 
 Dear Friends,
 
Today I learnt that I had lost a close friend. Chip Lindner passed away last Wednesday in his sleep.
There will be a memorial service at the John Knox Centre in Geneva on Monday the 4th December at 7.30pm. Another will happen in Washington on the 18th of December.
 
Chip has been an inspiration to so many of us.
 
The work he did as Secretary of the Brundtland Commission paved the way for the success of the Global Forum at the Rio Conference in 1992. Chip had many great strengths, for me the one  I cherished most was his strong belief in giving to the global community because he believed so deeply in trying to make this a better world for all of its inhabitants.
 
Chip had known he was HIV positive from 1988 and his doctor was unsure if he would survive organising the Global Forum in 1992. Survive it he did and it set the standard by which future 'Global Forums' would be viewed.
 
Chip created the Centre for Our Common Future in 1988 which he set up to promote the Brundtland Report. It was the most effective information outreach organization we have yet seen. Network the Centre's monthly newsletter went to over 100,000 NGOs, stakeholders and key individuals around the world. It helped connect all of us as we prepared for the Rio Summit in 1992. The Global Forum at Rio helped us become a family to which so many more have joined since. To all of us we owe a lot to Chip and his dedication. In 1991 he promoted the idea of the Independent Sector - something we now call the Major Groups or stakeholders. UNED named its monthly online newsletter Network 2002 in honour of the work of Chip and the Centre.
 
His analysis of the Rio Conference was that the Conference had failed to deliver the funds to enable developing countries to implement Agenda 21. He said often that we should have said that loud and clear in 1992 and the failure to make the Heads of State to realise what their obligations to humanity was the legacy of Rio for millions of people who suffered even more as Aid flows fell.
 
In 1999 he has presented with the Order of the Southern Cross by the President of Brazil, the highest civilian award granted by the Government of Brazil.
 
After the Rio Summit Chip became senior advisor on North-South issues to the Chairman of the 1998 Twelfth World AIDS Conference, his doctor. He considerably contributed to the refocusing of the AIDS debate to developing countries and it was his suggestion that the title of the 1998 Conference should be 'Bridging the Gap'. He also ensured that the Conference in 2000 would be in a developing country - South Africa.
 
When we set up UNED Forum he was the first person we thought to invite on to the International Advisory Board.
 
I met Chip for the first time in 1992 at the Rio Conference, he has been an inspiration to me ever since. He was someone who read so much and who had so much to offer in intellectual understanding of what we needed to do. We worked together on two books that UNED brought out, the last one on Earth Summit 2002. At the end of the chapter he wrote Chip said:
 
"I feel very strongly, as I did during both the Brundtland and Rio processes, that priorities need to be established by the international community when facing an agenda as wide and diverse as sustainable development. .........Earth Summit 2002 must provide the motivation; and in the area of  health it must make securing access for all (whether through concessional funding, compulsory licensing or parallel importing), and finding a vaccine for HIV/AIDS, central priorities for the first decade of the 21st century. Without such a renewed commitment, the judgement of history will fall heavily upon shoulders of today's government and business leaders."
 
In June we were meant to attend the World Aids Conference in Durban to jointly promote Earth Summit 2002. Chip was not well enough to travel, but he was looking forward to helping the South African Government and stakeholders learn from the experience that he had in 1992.
 
I last saw Chip in Geneva in September with my children Robin and Merri; we were meant to come for the weekend to his chalet - when we arrived Scott, one of Chips sons took us to the hospital. Chip hadn't told us he was unwell because he thought we wouldn't come as we were looking forward to a relaxing break. Chip always did things for other people, part of his enjoyment was making other people happy.
 
It seems so very unreal to think that we will not have Chip to help us as we prepare for 2002. For those who knew him and worked with him we each carry a piece of him with us in the way we act and the way we think and the values we try to live by. To those who we meet perhaps we can share that and through that Chip lives with us.
 
To paraphrase Bobby Kennedy.
 
"Some people see things as they are and ask why? Chip saw things that never were and said why not!"
 
Chip, we will miss you.
 
Love
 
Felix