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I came to Potchefstroom "out of the blue" in 1997, in search of an academic home to do my PhD. My partner Robert had left Germany to start his PhD at Wits University in 1996. After a meeting with Este in the lovely former little office next to the car park, she offered that I could take part in the THUSA study. Equipped with a confirmation letter signed by her I went back home to Germany, quit my job, and was in Potch a few months later. This has set me on a journey that changed my life. I have many fond memories of Este. She visited me for the first time in Bavaria, Germany in 2001 for my PhD defense, where she was co-supervisor (for formal reasons my first supervisor was in Germany). While she was able to combine this visit with some other important board meetings, in Rome or elsewhere, she made this huge effort and detour, despite her busy schedule. This meant a lot to me at the time, and also in hindsight, knowing how busy life can get. During the defense, which was rather stiff and formal, she encouragingly smiled at me the whole time, as if saying 'all will go well'. She stayed with us at my parents' house. When she had her first Weissbier (a traditional Bavarian beer that tastes not as bitter as a Lager), sitting barefoot at our dining table, she said this is so delicious and enjoyable that it kicks her off her feet (as most of you will know she did not really like beer). We also went for hikes in the mountains. She was amazed by the diversity of mountain flowers and could not say this often enough. During this visit she talked a lot about Ig and how much she would love him to come, too. Which they did, a few years later. They stayed at a farm B&B close by, in the midst of green pastures, with a view to the mountains. It was touching to see how Este enjoyed being here with Ig, and how she could relate to his joy to visit the "Germany of his childhood dreams" (Ig spoke German very well, which he had learned with his German teacher Herr Hesse). We undertook hikes in the mountains, visited monasteries and beer gardens, and had wonderful get-togethers with the rest of my family. In Potch, Este and Ig hosted me on numerous occasions and for extended periods of time in their garden flat. This helped me a lot, especially as I was waiting for research funds to come through - I was very grateful for this support. Much later, when I was not engaged so much anymore in research in the North West Province, I still regularly visited Potch, and it was a priority for me to see Este and Ig, they always made time in their busy schedules. Este was always interested in what happened in your personal and professional life. It was wonderful for me that the personal relationship endured, and I am grateful for the precious moments we shared. Este was a wonderful person and an inspiring and supportive mentor. Despite my research focus being quite different at the time I started as part of the THUSA team, she respected what I did and allowed me to find my niche. Baie dankie vir alles, I will not forget you Este. Liefde Stefanie
OBITUARY from Jo Hautvast : Professor Esté Vorster On 31 October last year I visited Esté in her house in Potchefstroom. We had, as usual, a lovely discussion and we shared, enjoyed and remembered the many times we met during the past 30 years in friendship and work. Esté was without any doubt the “First Lady of Nutrition in Africa”. She was dedicated to her work and she build up a leading and excellent nutrition department with a highly quality staff. At my visit last year she asked me to make a selfie with her. These days I looked again to this selfie and I could see that she was not well. However she was talking so lively, positive and full of interest that I was not so aware of her illness at that time, a strong woman without any doubt. When we say farewell we embraced and we both were aware that this was the last time we met. Esté, thank you for all your love and friendship. Jo and Marylou Hautvast
I recently had the opportunity to reflect on female leadership, and at the time, I wrote the following about prof Este whom I called prof M. Nowadays, prof M is an elderly lady and one can say - workwise- she made it in her research career. She contributed greatly to some of the largest epidemiological studies in South Africa, established research centres, published extensively and sat on various high-profile WHO steering committees. In my field, everybody knows about prof M, but I was blessed to get to know her during my post-doc years. At the time, she had already been retired for 6 or 7 years but was still actively involved in research. We were doing a large breast cancer study at Baragwanath hospital and had to drive through from Potchefstroom to administer certain questionnaires. Everybody knows that by the time you are a professor, you train other people to do the questionnaires - its often seen as low-level work and you have more important things to do. But for three-four years prof M drove with me on Thursdays and Fridays, to administer questionnaires and to collect data. She always told me, 'Christine - it is important to know what is going on in your data!' (I still think we have the best dietary data that have ever been collected:) At the time, she had already been carrying a heavy burden of some of the side effects of her treatment, but not once did I ever hear prof Este complain. I absolutely cherished these drives and the discussions that followed. I have the utmost respect for the humble way in which she engaged with all people and will forever be thankful for the time I could spend with her.
So many good memories: Prof Este in her white lab coat walking very fast from her home in Venter Street to Physiology Building with a small dog 'Stompie' (she saved him from somewhere) at her heels. Prof Este behind her desk covered with files and photocopies, writing those 300+ publications, in pen during the early days. Prof Este driving Ig's red pick up truck ('bakkie'), stacked with a freezer and boxes filled with lab stuff, into the rural areas of North West province. She led a large multi-disciplinary team in the THUSA study. And when it was hot in those rural areas, she drove back into town to buy ice-cream for everyone. So many researchers started their careers in this team and learned from her. Thank you for all the advice, feedback ("spoggerig!") and fun times we shared with 'binnepret".
What a privilege it’s been to have had Prof Este as my supervisor and mentor. She’s had a major impact on my career and the person I am today. I did not plan to become a scientist, but I am a scientist because of her. She made science fun and I have so many fond memories of research projects with Prof Este. She gave me numerous opportunities, she trusted me and believed in me and stretched me to take on tasks that I did not know I could achieve, but she knew I could. She taught me the importance of contributing to and supporting our science community. Because of her and what she instilled in me as a young scientists, I believe that I’ve been able to impact other’s careers, create opportunities for others and support my science community. She was brilliant, inspiring, a visionary leader and a great role model. The world will be poorer without her. But as Johann mentioned, she is probably already designing the perfect experiment in ‘heaven’, solving the world’s problems using state-of-the art technologies. Prof Este was truly a legend in Nutrition!
As a 2nd year student in Physiology, 1989, Prof Vorster crossed my path. The way she made digestion seem so easy and understandable left a lasting impression on me as a student. Little did I know, that when I indicated that I would like to pursue a PhD in Human Movement Sciences, that she would be my co-promotor. As one of the first few students embarking on research in fibrin network structures, her positive attitude and motivation assisted me in completing my PhD in the shortest possible time. Prof Este never flinched at a challenge . May she rest in peace. Her inputs have formed me as a researcher and her kind heart and strong belief in the good of people will always inspire me.
I met Prof Este Vorster for the first time in January 1990. Xxx On that first opportunity: I came to the university looking to start a post graduate degree programme in physiology. All the projects in the programme were full and she said she would take me into a research project even though I did not take nutrition as a subject. This was my first encounter with this incredible woman who always went the extra mile. The project was on the effects of an alpha glucosidase inhibitor (now known as Glucophage) on obesity in Zucker fatty rats – my comrade in arms was Welma Stonehouse and she did a feeding trail in these same rats using fish oil. And so we lived our first experience of the way in which she empowered. Xxx The field trips: After completion of my Hons degree there were numerous field studies and trips – the ministers of the Reformed Church, Slough in the Kalahari with Isabel Schmidt, the trips to Tshikundamalema in Venda with the Hans Snyckers Institute and to !Xun and Khwe communities at Schmidtsdrift with Marius Coetzee of the University of the Free State. Then came some of the bigger studies – the start of the Lipid Clinic and the THUSA study, PURE and the numerous smaller nutrition intervention studies that she initiated. Everywhere we went the blood flowed, the centrifuges spun and the people had fun [mostly]. Xxx On gathering and scattering: She had a fantastic network of like-minded people who shaped her. I am reminded by a quote by Helen Walton “It is not what you gather but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived”. Prof Vorster had an abundance mentality – she kept on scattering, sharing, empowering, creating opportunity. She was never concerned that people might steal her ideas – simply because she had so many! Xxx On sticking your neck out: I remember how she pushed us to present at conferences as junior post grad students without us even thinking we would be able to do it – That first physiology conference in Gordons Bay, then Pretoria, Langebaan, Durban and the world. she taught me that to make things happen, to make change happen, one has to take risks and often bite off more than you think you can chew. Growth does not happen in the comfort zone. Xxx On showing confidence in others: I always respected and appreciated that she had more confidence in our (my) ability than we had. I remember the day she waltzed into the office – extremely excited – with a paper in her hand. To this day I remember the title – the Normal and Morbid Biology of Fibrinogen. My job was to study this paper so that would know what there is to know about fibrinogen. There was not a single sentence in the whole paper that I understood – but she understood the importance of challenge and how to get the best from people in a positive constructive way. Xxx On conflict resolution: I remember one day being summoned to her office. In the office she had a post grad student and her parents – all extremely upset. It turned out that the student had been working on my computer without me knowing and I had then deleted all her data. I recall seeing the strange files and simply deleting them (in the days before “undo” and “trash”). That day she taught me something about keeping calm and paying attention to motives and giving benefit of the doubt as a default response. Xxx On values: “Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do” – this is something that she often said and she lived by this value in all her dealings in all situations – also when things were really difficult and she could have chosen for a course of action that could have greater benefit for herself she always chose to do the right thing because it was the right thing to do. This is something that has stuck with me and I am grateful for such a life lesson. Xxx On air-conditioning: I recall the time we went to the Kruger Park with Christine Edwards from Scotland (in February). We were so excited to show her something of our country and went to great efforts to make this a memorable trip. The whole trip Christine was quiet and slept a lot – even in the park. We were really “surprised” at this only later to learn that she felt that she was going to die of the heat! Note to self: DO NOT take guests to the park in February without air-conditioning. Xxx On making mistakes: Prof Vorster was often very philosophical about things that went wrong and she would often say that it is only in heaven that we will be able to do the perfect study with the ideal design. [With the greatest respect] – Some part of me hopes that she is already organising the study participants for THAT study… Xxx On the enjoyment of work: Yes, she worked hard and with great dedication but my lesson here was that she also enjoyed every minute of it [unless it was bureaucratic nonsense]. She enjoyed the discovery, the intellectual stimulation and the thrill of learning and creating. She was an academic at heart and loved it. Xxx On leaving a legacy: The legacy of a great leader and academic does not lie in the publications, prizes and grants – it lies in the people she helped develop, the opportunities she shared. It lies in the giving, in the scattering and not the gathering. What a fantastic legacy she has left behind! Xxx It has been an absolute honour being her student, sidekick and colleague. She has made me who I am as a professional and shaped who I am as a person.
OBITUARY: Professor H.H. (Esté) Vorster (11/01/1943 – 23/06/2020) Professor H.H. (Esté) Vorster was a Director of the Centre of Excellence for Nutrition in the Faculty of Health Sciences of the North-West University (NWU), Potchefstroom, South Africa. She obtained a DSc. in Physiology from NWU (previously Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education) in 1989 with a thesis titled, “The effects of dietary fibre on lipid and haemostatic risk factors of noncommunicable diseases”. Professor Vorster started nutrition research at NWU in the 1980s. She conceptualised nutrition as a multidisciplinary domain, from molecules to society, and pioneered research and infrastructure development to address malnutrition problems in Africa on basic (molecular and genetic), clinical and epidemiological levels. She was internationally recognised for her work on the role of dietary fibre in health, the relationship between diet and blood coagulation, and her contribution to understanding the nutrition transition and its determinants and consequences in Africa. A dedicated capacity builder and initiator of research, Professor Vorster supervised many PhD and MSc students and published widely, including more than 300 research papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, books, chapters in books, editorials and research reports. She received many awards recognising her value-driven contribution as a thought leader and transdisciplinary thinker. These included a B1-rating from the National Research Foundation (she enjoyed considerable international recognition by her peers for the high quality and impact of her research outputs), the Nutrition Society of South Africa's (NSSA) award for ‘Outstanding Contributions to Nutrition Research’, the prestigious Havenga Medalje vir Geneeskunde for scientific outputs in Medical Sciences, and the African Nutrition Society Nevin Scrimshaw award for ‘Vision and leadership in nutrition training and service to international nutrition’. She was a Fellow of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS), elected for rendering outstanding service to the cause of nutrition. Professor Vorster was a skilled leader and networker, handling conflict masterfully and solving problems amicably. She served on several councils, working groups and panels: Chair and President of the NSSA; Secretary-General of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf); member of Die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns; the South Africa-Netherlands Programme for Alternatives in Development; the Women’s Outreach Foundation, and; the 5-a-day for Better Health Trust. Professor Vorster organised and chaired the International Nutrition Congress in Durban in 2005. She served as consultant and scientific advisor to the South African National Department of Health, as well as to international agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), FAO, CODEX Alimentarius and UNICEF. She made an important contribution as a member of the WHO/FAO Working Group on Carbohydrates and Energy Requirements. She initiated the Food Based Dietary Guideline (FBDG) process that resulted in the acceptance of these guidelines as the official standard of the South African Department of Health. She also worked as an international consultant to the WHO to develop and implement FBDGs in several countries. She was on the editorial boards of a number of international nutrition and health journals. Professor Vorster’s understanding of the basic sciences was exceptional and she was able to advise on programme implementation at a population level. Throughout her career she not only performed cutting edge research but also applied research methodologies - from a molecular to an epidemiological level - to advance the understanding of nutrition and influence local and global policy. She was a keen advocate for public health nutrition in South Africa, recognising that if students were trained in an illness paradigm the country would not be able to deal with its nutritional challenges. Professor Vorster will be remembered as joyful, energetic and kind. Sadly, she will also be remembered for her bravery in her battle with cancer. She was admired for her exceptional social skills and always had time to exchange a friendly word in English, Afrikaans or isiZulu with everyone who crossed her path. She dealt with all people with respect, gentleness and tact. Her love for her children and grandchildren was admirable and her faith in God never wavered. Professor Vorster’s pioneering work created many opportunities for numerous South African nutrition researchers and professionals, and she was an inspiration to all who had the privilege of working with, studying under, and being mentored by her. Her legacy lives on in the countless scientists and practitioners who benefitted from her mentorship over the span of her illustrious and visionary career. We honour our South African nutrition champion, Prof Esté. From the staff of the Centre of Excellence for Nutrition, NWU, Potchefstroom, South Africa. For any further information contact Prof Marius Smuts marius.smuts@nwu.ac.za To share a memory or condolence message go to https://www.remembr.com/este.vorster
Jacqueline van Druten
Jacqueline van Druten
As an old student, it was not lost on me that the NWU nutrition department had a special magic. Now many years later, having had exposure to various other tertiary centres and research, I'm deeply grateful for the vision she instilled for CEN and the commitment from her researcher team to create that physical space for nutrition excellence. What I learned at CEN transcended beyond realising my dream to be a healthcare professional whose advice people can count on (due to principles of EBN) but also helped prepare me as a young professional how to conduct myself based on the example that was set at that department. This I believe changed my life for the better. Just shows the power of the ripple effect in just three generations.
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