In memory of Peter Bal

Last Friday, 26 March 2010, our dear colleague Peter Bal passed away in a hospital on the island of Bali, Indonesia. His sudden death has struck a blow to us all.

Peter’s career started at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He was also employed at Utrecht University for a number of years before taking up a job at Maastricht University in 1992. Peter never regretted this career move: on the contrary, he felt completely at ease in the southern part of the country. From 1992 onwards, Peter worked as an associate professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure in the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology at the Faculty of Law. Over all these years, he put his heart and soul into academic research and education. His field of interest and expertise was substantive criminal law and comparative criminal procedure, with a focus on US criminal law and procedure.

We remember Peter as a high-spirited and dedicated colleague. His competent and energetic teaching style was very well appreciated by his students. Among his colleagues, Peter was known to be a qualified, passionate and charming scholar. He was sincerely interested in the wishes and needs of his colleagues and put serious effort into maintaining and improving typical trademarks of Maastricht University, PBL in particular.

Peter has served the Faculty of Law in various ways, including as the chair of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, coordinator of education within the department, and chair of the European Law School programme committee. During his last trip, Peter was representing Maastricht University as part of a development programme to enhance the quality of academic teaching in Indonesia. His emails reflected his enthusiasm for the country, for its people and for education. In many respects, they underline Peter’s joie-de vivre. This is also what makes it so hard to grasp the fact that he has so suddenly has been taken from us.

We would sincerely like to wish Ine and the children, Ava and Lucas, as well as Peter’s sister Wil and the rest of the family and all his friends all the strength they need to cope with this immense loss.

On 6 April at 11.30 a service will be organised honouring the late Peter Bal. This service will take place in the Sint-Janskerk in Maastricht. Following the service, at 13.00, an informal gathering will be held in La Bonbonnière in Maastricht.

A book of condolences has been placed in Peter's office, room no. A 2.120.