After nearly four years of hard fighting, our dear and respected colleague Pierre Pluye left us on a warm afternoon in the height of summer. And he left us as he had lived: with discretion, serenity, dignity, and in the company of his wife, children, and brother.

Pierre was born in the southwest of France. After studying Medicine, he worked for ‘Médecins du Monde.’ I met him for the first time in 1994 at the University of Montreal, when I began my PhD program in Public Health at the University of Montreal, and he had enrolled in the MSc in Community Health. He told me the reason why he came to Montreal: he wanted to improve his knowledge and skills to perform his humanitarian job better. His idea was to get back to fieldwork after graduating. He never did. Meeting Lucie, Dr. Lucie Nadeau, put his life, and all his plans, upside down… I was not at that party in 1995, but common friends who were there said to me that when Pierre arrived in the room, they immediately felt that the world around those two literally ‘disappeared.’

Pierre finished his MSc in 1996. But then, he enrolled and graduated with a PhD in Public Health, Health Promotion. He arrived at McGill in 2003 to complete a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Department of Social Studies in Medicine, under Prof. Alberto Cambrosio. In 2005, he was appointed Assistant Professor (tenure stream) in our department of Family Medicine, and the rest, as they say, is history, departmental history.

Founding member of the Family Medicine Graduate Programs, founding member of the McGill Family Medicine Education Research Group (FMER), an internationally renowned scholar in mixed methods research, devoted course instructor and recognized for excellence as a supervisor of graduate students, … It is impossible to summarize in just a few words the enormous contribution Pierre made to the Family Medicine scholarship. I would only add that the quality of the relationships he established with colleagues throughout his career is superbly exemplified by his long-lasting and fruitful professional relationship with Roland Grad, founding member of the FMER as well. As a duo, they initiated a program of research even before Pierre graduated with a PhD, and kept on working together almost to the end.

We will miss Pierre Pluye terribly. In his name, the International Award in Family Medicine Education Research contributes to the recognition and admiration we have for him and his outstanding work. The sweet memory of his humanity will forever remain in our hearts.

!Hasta siempre, querido Pierre!

Charo Rodríguez
Director, McGill FMER

Pierre Pluye passed away peacefully on
Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at his home in Montreal.