LAUSR

Alain Reinberg passed away 26 November 2017, only a few weeks after celebrating his 96th birthday. Even at this advanced age, he remained creative, insightful and highly engaged. He made it known to family and friends he desired to remain involved in all his favorite activities – especially biological rhythm research, creative writing and traveling. His wish was fulfilled. He was found at home unconscious before his computer where he sat while revising a manuscript provisionally accepted for publication. He never regained consciousness and died peacefully the next day. Alain was well known and respected for his broad expertise and extensive accomplishments. Although he had numerous close friends and colleagues worldwide with whom he regularly communicated, few know of his complex history and multidimensionality of interests and talents. His story is long and interesting. Alain was born in Paris on 4 November 1921, 10 years after his sister Nina. Alain’s father Arthur was born in Riga (at that time under Russian rule) and his mother, Genia, in Poland. Arthur was a successful import/export businessman and traveled extensively in Europe and Asia to meet with clients. However, the invasion and military aggression of the Japanese against Manchuria in the early 1930s curtailed his business activities resulting in tremendous family financial hardship. Genia was a talented and famous photographer, and her prints are popular with the public still today. As a youngster, Alain was often a model for his mother’s photographic portraits. Some of Genia’s notable clients include British socialite Sir William Garthwaite and many notable French personalities – musician Henri Gil-Marchex; theater actors and producers Charles Dullin, Louis Jouvet and Michel Simon; painter Pierre-Eugène Montézin; novelists, poets and playwrights such as Anatole France and Jean Giraudoux; and German scientist Albert Einstein. Alain attended municipal school in Paris as a young child; he boasted of earning the Certificat d’Etudes – the diploma traditionally awarded to French youngsters after successful completion of primary school education. Alain’s yearning for knowledge and adventure commenced early in life. He joined the boy scouts in 1934 when 13 years of age and participated in camping activities in choice locations in the Alps and l’ile d’Oléron that served him well later in life in successfully dealing with the German occupation of France. He also traveled to England as a boy scout where he was introduced to the ‘Queen’s English,’ and when 16 years old he journeyed by steamer to the USA to attend the 1937 Washington D.C. World Scout Jamboree as a member of the French delegation of boy scouts. Alain discovered the United States and American foods, such as macaroni and cheese, Idaho potatoes and apple pie, which he continued to enjoy when returning to the USA to visit academic colleagues and attend biological rhythm, medical and other scientific conferences. CHRONOBIOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 2018, VOL. 35, NO. 5, 589–596 https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2018.1459663