It was with great sadness that we learned of the death on July 20, 2024, of Marcel Boom (54), software developer, experiment designer and IT engineer at the Erasmus Behavioural Lab.
Marcel started in 2004 as a network administrator and helpdesk employee at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Three years later, he began working at the Erasmus Behavioural Lab (EBL) as a software developer, experiment designer, and IT engineer. He developed, implemented, and maintained IT systems and networks in that role. He also helped colleagues and students design experiments for their research.
Marcel had a strong sense of justice and was collegial, innovative and creative. No question was too much for him. He used his creativity to develop intelligent solutions for researchers within the work. In doing so, he developed new possibilities in addition to the EBL's existing services. Over the years, Marcel found innovative solutions for hundreds of researchers, enabling them to perform their lab research well.
His colleagues often called him the foundation of the EBL: you didn't see him, but without him, the EBL would slowly sink. He was highly passionate about his work. Marcel looked for a solution for every question asked more than once so that the question didn't have to be asked again. Over the years, this has ensured that many researchers referred to the lab as 'the research Mecca of the Netherlands'. Through his years of dedication to the EBL, Marcel has made a substantial contribution to the professionalization of the lab. We are very grateful to him for that.
We wish his wife Saskia, family, friends, and colleagues much strength to bear this great loss.
Victor Bekkers, dean Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Inga Hoever, Erasmus Research Institute of Management en Rotterdam School of Management
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Britt van Sloun, editorial and communication ESSB, vansloun@essb.eur.nl