It is with great sorrow that we note the passing this week of Aage Johansen, in Oslo, Norway. A Firebird stalwart since its very first days in 1999, Aage was a founding member of the Firebird Foundation and has constantly maintained his membership and his faith in what the Firebird team could achieve.
Over the years he has contributed generously, but quietly, to the Foundation, to the support lists, to reviews of documentation and to testing international character set issues. Aage's colleague at his workplace, Kreftregisteret Norway, Svein Erling Tysvaer, commented, "He will be greatly missed, both as a friend and as an employee - he was the only one with the combination of medical, programming and historical skills, and some of the work he's done, no-one else can do."
Those of us in the Firebird Project who have been privileged to work with Aage feel the same.
A wine buff and a lover of opera and classical music, Aage is survived by his father and one sister.  The funeral service will take place next Tuesday, 31 May, at Manglerud Kirche, Oslo, at 11 a.m. Rest in peace, Aage Johansen.