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In taking on this request to write an obituary for Karien van Lohuizen, we have struggled to find a voice to best honour and commemorate our dear friend and colleague. Karien died of heart failure on 25 April 2008, and we are still filled with grief, unprocessed mourning and our astonishment that such a kind, caring and accomplished colleague is no longer with us.
We wanted to offer both our public/professional voices and our more emotional ones in this tribute, so we will begin with a general summary of her work and accomplishments.
Karien had a university degree as a psychologist and was trained in Gestalt and systems theory. She was the co-founder of IAS International (Institute for the Application of Social Sciences) in Haarlem, The Netherlands, in 1991. As she wrote in her ISPSO biography: ‘The aim of the institute is to provide concepts and methods for organizations and professionals, through training programmes, coaching and consultancy. We are particularly interested in change processes and intercultural management.’ Originally conceived as a co-directed institute, Karien took over the directorship in 1998. During this time, IAS cooperated with The Grubb Institute in London () and inscape-international in Coesfeld and Cologne, Germany ().
Having decided to relieve herself of these responsibilities and to pursue other areas of work, she closed the institute in December 2007. In 2005, she and Gerard van Reekum founded InterSysteem Consulting Partners. According to its web site (), ISCP is