Professor Jerzy Bartke, outstanding physicists, founder of the Division of Relativistic Nuclear Physics and Interactions of Hadrons in the PAN Institute of Nuclear Physics in Cracow, mentor and tutor of a few generations of Polish scientists, passed away. Professor Bartke pioneered research in the field of relativistic nuclear physics in Poland. He was among the first Polish physicists working in CERN (Geneva). For many years he was also involved in research conducted in Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna (Russia). He was cooperating with colleagues from NCBJ at the NA49 experiment run in CERN. Recently he actively participated in works of the ALICE experiment team (of which some members also were from NCBJ).

We shall  remember Professor Bartke as an outstanding physicists, friendly and bright-minded teacher of youth, a man of exceptionally varied interests and a creative spirit.