Xavier Lagrue - 1969-2006
With sadness and consternation we mourn for the death of Xavier who left us suddenly at the age of 37. Xavier is a person to remember, especially for those of us who had worked with him at CERN.
Still very young in 1998, he joined CERN's EP-TA2 group to work on the ALICE TPC. He was involved in the conception, preparation and tests of the prototype field cage, and made many original and significant contributions. His youthful enthusiasm that enlightened all of us would not succumb to hardship and setbacks. In 2004 he joined CMS where he soon became an expert in hydraulic and mechanical jacks to move the very large elements of the detector. He participated and managed very severe and complicate maneuvers to close CMS for the first time and made the Magnet and Cosmic Challenge Test a success. He was devoted to a high quality of work with a humble sense of responsibility for his team and project.
Xavier was a great asset to our teams, professionally as well as humanly, and a wonderful friend to many of us. He was someone who had the courage to stand up for others and live to his ideals.
He shall be remembered by all of us and will stay in our hearts as a great human being. Our thoughts and deep sympathy are with his wife Lisa, his children Jan and Timea, and with his parents and his brother.
His friends and colleagues of CERN
