In memoriam: prof. dr. John Grad (1933–2026)
Prof. dr. Janez Grad was not only an outstanding scientist, mathematician, computer scientist, professor and one of the most prominent pioneers of computing and informatics in our country. He was also a great lover of nature and an excellent observer and researcher of bumblebees.
He started working with computers in 1962, when he got a job at the Jožef Stefan Institute, and later until 1972 he managed the joint computer center of Iskra, the University of Ljubljana and the then Executive Council of the Republic of Slovenia. In the years 1970-72, he was also a member of the core team that led the construction of the largest computer center at the time, not only in the former Yugoslavia, but also in Central Europe more broadly. This large computer center then operated for a long time within the IJS as the Republic Computing Center and provided computer capacities to the Executive Council, the University of Ljubljana and a number of large Slovenian companies. When the center began to operate, Professor Grad took over its operational management for a short time, and then became the head of the UL University Computing Center until 1982, when he was employed at the Faculty of Economics (EF) of the University of Ljubljana. In all these years, he has already accumulated very rich professional and managerial experience in the field of computing, and at the same time he has already started lecturing at the university.
His activity in the field of computer science and informatics, with his employment at the UL Faculty of Economics, focused on research and teaching work, as well as cooperation with practice. Given that he was very interested in applied mathematics, he focused his research on the use of informatics in the field of optimal production planning. As a result of successful projects in practice and high-profile publications in reputable scientific journals, he established the research field of business informatics at EF, in which he involved and guided younger colleagues. Prof. With its vision and efforts, Grad is responsible for establishing the Department of Business Informatics at the Faculty of Economics. The department has intensively developed personnel and research into the areas of renovation and computerization of business (business processes, business logistics and digital transformation of business). Also due to its international success and resonance, it became, and remains, one of EF’s key areas of activity. For his successful work in the field of establishing the field of business informatics and its development, upon his retirement, at the proposal of EF, the University of Ljubljana awarded him the title of Emeritus Professor of the University of Ljubljana.
After 1999 and until his retirement in 2007, he was involved in the activities and efforts of the Faculty of Administration of UL for the development of the field of administrative informatics. The field of administrative informatics and e-government was experiencing a real boom at the time, which is why research in this field also intensified. His experience in the field of business informatics content creation at the Faculty of Economics was particularly valuable. In 2003/4, the Faculty of Administration started with the Bologna reform of programs, where prof. The castle is active in the design of undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
Prof. Dr. Janez Grad also left a visible mark on the activities of the Slovenian Association of Informatics (SDI). After 1991, he was constantly present in many activities of the association, leading sections, preparing reviews, working on the editorial boards of the journals Informatica and Applied Informatics. In particular, it should be pointed out that he was one of the founding members of one of the most fruitful sections of the society, i.e. the Operational Research Section (SOR). With its many years of research and publications, the section has become one of the most internationally renowned.
He was also very active in various bodies of the SDI association, including in the executive committee of the association, the board of directors of the Operations Research Section, the editorial board of the international journal Informatica, the editorial board of the journal Applied Informatics, the program committee of the Days of Slovenian Informatics symposiums ’94 and in many program committees of SOR conferences. He was also a member of the program committees of several symposia organized by the Ljubljana Society of Economists.
Prof. Dr. Janez Grad received a number of prestigious awards for his nationally and internationally resounding research achievements and dedicated organizational work in the scientific field. In 1995, he received an award from the Slovenian Society of Informatics for lifetime achievement in the field of informatics. In 2014, he received the Donald Michie and Alan Turing Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mathematics and Computer Science. In 2023, however, he received recognition and was accepted among the legends of Slovenian IT. It is definitely one of the most deserving on this list. He is also the holder of the Golden Plaque of the University of Ljubljana and its professor emeritus.
In 2022, the municipality of Dol pri Ljubljana awarded him the title of Honorary Citizen of the municipality of Dol pri Ljubljana.
His study and research of bumblebees in Slovenia deserves a special chapter in his life and also in his professional and scientific oeuvre. Bumblebees were much more than a hobby for him. They were his love and passion. At home, he converted an old apiary into a ‘bumble bee’ with small hives adapted to the needs of bumblebees. He not only admired and carefully observed bumblebees, but also treated them scientifically and published a whole series of high-profile scientific papers about them. The first comprehensive Slovenian book Čmrlji v Slovenija, which he co-authored and published in 2023, was particularly popular.
In addition to the many outstanding qualities that prof. dr. What made Grad stand out because of them was perhaps the most valuable and noble fact that he was not able to understand and solve only high-level abstract problems from the world of mathematics and computer science. With the same ease, attention and love, he also descended into the plains and beauties of the material microcosm, the world of meadow flowers, bees and bumblebees.
We will remember him as such.
prof. dr. Andrej Kovačič and Prof. dr. Mirko Vintar
