Professor André Vander Vorst passed away peacefully on December 25, 2025, after a long and distinguished life devoted to science, education and service to the international microwave community. Vander Vorst was an electrical and mechanical engineer who made contributions to microwave science and engineering. He was widely respected for his scientific vision, his commitment to education and his dedication to European and international professional organisations.

He was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1935. He received the degrees of Electrical and Mechanical Engineer in 1958 and the Ph.D. degree in applied sciences in 1965 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Belgium. As a NATO Fellow, he was a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1964 to 1965, where he obtained the M.S. degree in electrical engineering, and at Stanford University from 1965 to 1966, working in the field of radio astronomy.

In 1966, he founded the Microwave Laboratory at UCL, which he directed for more than three decades. Under his leadership, the laboratory became internationally recognised for research in microwave and mmWave engineering. He taught electromagnetics, transmission lines and microwaves at four Belgian universities, as well as courses on analogue and hybrid computation, antennas and microwave and satellite communications.

During his academic career, he supervised more than 25 doctoral theses and approximately 200 engineer’s theses, and authored or co-authored seven books, numerous book chapters and over 300 scientific papers. Throughout his career, he also held significant academic leadership roles at UCL, serving as head of the Electrical Engineering Department (1970–1972), dean of Engineering (1972–1975), vice president of the Academic Council (1973–1975) and president of the Open School in Economic and Social Politics (1973–1987). He was a member of numerous national and international scientific and educational committees.

Professor Vander Vorst played a pivotal role in shaping the European microwave community. He was a corresponding member of the Organising Committee of the first European Microwave Conference (EuMC) in London in 1969, chaired the EuMC Technical Programme Committee in Brussels in 1971 and served as general chair of EuMC 1984 in Liège, Belgium. He acted as a reviewer for every EuMC since 1969. He was one of the founder members of the European Microwave Association (EuMA) when it was established in 1998 and served the Association with exceptional dedication as secretary-general and treasurer for 18 years. During this period, he was instrumental in establishing the EuMA headquarters and creating the organisational framework that continues to support EuMA and European Microwave Week today.

In recognition of this extraordinary service, EuMA awarded him the Distinguished Service Award in 2016. Professor Vander Vorst was also highly active in the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) and IEEE Region 8. His professional achievements were recognised with numerous honours, including election as an IEEE Fellow in 1985, the SITEL Prize (1986), the IEEE MTT-S Meritorious Service Award (1994), the IEEE Third Millennium Medal (2000) and the IEEE MTT-S Microwave Career Award (2004) for leadership, creativity and outstanding contributions to microwave theory and techniques. He was also a member of Academia Europaea and The Electromagnetics Academy.