With profound sorrow we learned of the death of Professor Dr. Charles C. Capen on March 1, 2008, due to metastatic colon cancer. As head of the Department of Veterinary Biosciences at Ohio State University in Columbus for many years, he was not only appreciated as a talented researcher and teacher at his university, but also as speaker at scientific meetings and expert by veterinary pathologists, toxicologic pathologists, toxicologists and regulators throughout the world.

Charles Capen received his D.V.M. at Washington State University in 1960 and his Ph.D. in veterinary pathology at Ohio State University in 1965. At that time veterinary pathologists in Europe received their education on an individual basis, whereas the North-American colleagues were trained in postgraduate courses and had to pass frequent exams. Charles Capen went through this tough training himself and became an outstanding professor. He trained a large number of Ph.D. candidates in veterinary pathology, among them several European veterinary pathologists, to cope with the increasing demand of the pharmaceutical and chemical industry. This educational method was exemplary and therefore followed in Europe, for example, by the School of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover with the "Aufbaustudium" in 1984 and the Ph.D. program in 2002.

Charles Capen became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in 1965 and was instrumental in the high performance of the ACVP, acting as its president in 1979, and being named a distinguished member in 1999. The trend set by the ACVP was later followed in Europe, where the ECVP was founded in 1995, in line with the objectives of the ACVP. He was also very active in our sister society in the United States, the Society of Toxicologic Pathology, serving as its president in 1997.

While many university department heads were still hesitant to cooperate with the chemical industry, Charles Capen became heavily involved and was recognized for his research related to the development of compounds, with particular emphasis on toxicologic pathology. His publications on the mechanisms of action of xenobiotics and his contributions to the pathogenesis of endocrine tumours in rats are classics and made him well known to all of us. His opinion as consultant in endocrine toxicologic pathology was sought by many companies in the United States and Europe as well as by the FDA and EPA.

Charles Capen was an excellent speaker at scientific conferences, mostly in the United States, but also in Europe, Asia and South America. At a 3-day ESTP conference on toxicologic pathology of endocrine organs in laboratory animals in November 2003 he gave eight (!) one-hour presentations, which were the highlights of the conference. Despite his outstanding reputation, he agreed to contribute without an honorarium, as did the other speakers. This helped to keep the registration fee low, allowing many graduate students from all over Europe to attend. His acceptance of this heavy commitment without payment is substantial evidence of Dr. Capen's dedication to teaching the younger generation.

Charles Capen became one of the first nine fellows of the International Academy of Toxicologic Pathology (IATP) in 2000 and served as president as of 2007. In this function he chaired the annual meeting in Puerto Rico last June, where many of us saw him for the last time. There he promised to settle the open issues between the IATP and the IFSTP, regarding the establishment of an additional accreditation status of toxicologic pathologists, a goal we must now achieve without him.

Based on the numerous honours Charles Capen received for his scientific achievements, one might assume that he had no time for other activities. On the contrary, Charles and his wife Sharron enjoyed traveling together and visited all seven continents and about 50 countries. They both developed into accomplished nature photographers and in November presented a local show of 219 prints selected from their many trips. In addition, Charles and Sharron loved classical music, particularly grand opera and were patrons of the New York Metropolitan Opera as well as Opera Columbus and the Columbus Symphony.

With Charles Capen's untimely death we lose not only a great researcher, teacher and speaker in the midst of his professional life, but also a person of fine character, wise and convincing in his argumentation and very helpful to many colleagues. None of us who had a chance to cooperate with him will forget this capable, modest and admirable person, and those who follow us will cite his many excellent text book chapters and original publications for decades to come. Thus, his personality will remain in our hearts as will his achievements in our minds.