[Aroid-l] our dear friend Julius Boos

From: ExoticRainforest <Steve at exoticrainforest.com> on 2009.06.27 at 12:33:34(19460) One of the most valued contributorsto the International Aroid Society and Aroid l is a brother to all of,my dear friend Julius Boos. With Julius' permission I wanted to letall of you know about his medical condition. Julius was diagnosed earlier this week with Pancreatic cancer. Thatform of cancer is extremely difficult to treat and/or cure and Juliushas made it clear to several of us that his personal prognosis is notgreat. Julius is a remarkable man and is one of the most brilliantpeople in the aroid community. He has authored many papers on aroidsas well as other scientific papers on insects and other animals. Julius is also a co-author of scientific papers introducing new aroidspecies to science and there are more in the publishing process rightnow. He has personally guided me almost from the very beginning when Ielected to try to create a website on aroids and tropical plant specieswith good scientific information written in a way any one canunderstand. Julius has proofed and made positive updates on my effortsmany, many times. Over the years we've traded thousands of email andquite a few phone calls. I have no idea how many times I've quoted himbut his name pops up on my site more than anyone else other than Dr.Croat. In 2006 he helped to track down a plant that was on theinternet called the Rare Thailand Parrot Flower than almost everyonethought was a hoax. That page on Impatiens psittacina is thesingle most often visited page on my website with as many as 1000individual visitors in a single day on some days. If you were to do aGoogle search his name will pop up on many, many pages. He has asked that his email not be flooded with tons of mail since heis currently having a great deal of problems with his older system andat this time sees no reason to replace it. Brief notes would beappreciated but attachments can cause unnecessary problems. Ipersonally have great faith in prayer so many of my personal friendshave added Julius to their list of people they ask God to take careof. I'd like to see as many of us as possible do the same but even ifyou aren't terribly religious please do remember "Ju-Bo". If you wereto go back through all the Aroid l postings (and you can back to 1996here: http://www.hort.net/lists/aroid-l/ I would doubt anyone hasgiven more great advice to aroids than Julius. Julius has told me on the phone he is perfectly at peace with hismedical condition and is feeling well. There are more tests that mustbe done but please do think about him. Julius, please remember that thousands of us love you dearly, just likea brother! I know of several Aroid l members other than myself thatliterally consider you to be my brother. I only wish I had made yourfriendship many, many years earlier. And for those of you that havenever met Julius this is just one more great reason to attend the IASAroid Show and Sale in September. Julius like always, Julius plans tobe there and so should you. Steve Lucas HTML +More www.ExoticRainforest.com --------------040802060303080107070007

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