Obituary J. W. Ten Cate

Jan Wouter was born in Amsterdam and studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam, specialized in internal medicine, and defended his PhD thesis in 1971 with the subject 'Platelet functions in relation to haemostasis'. He became head of the department of thrombosis and hemostasis of the former Wilhelmina Gasthuis in Amsterdam, which later on, after the Academic Medical Center was formed, extended into the Centre for Thrombosis- Haemostasis-Atherosclerosis and Inflammation Research. In this fertile scientific environment, Jan Wouter, with his immense sense of humour, gift of speech and flamboyant presentation, attracted numerous talented, rebellious and untameable young PhD students, who were seeking a bright future and were magnetized by his appearance. The first contact was nearly always brisk and direct: 'Do you want work really hard? Are you brilliant? How old are you? You can start tomorrow'. Afterwards, later in a nearby café, the salaries were conjured out of the magician's hat. The other day, the student learned that hard working with integrity would be the line to follow. Many PhD theses and dozens of top journal articles appeared, thus creating a wonderful scientific perpetuum mobile, engineered by this unique, jovial person with his impressive moustache.