In Swedish:

Professor emeritus Sven Erik Magnusson avled 15 december 2014. Han lämnar efter sig familj, vänner och kollegor i sorg och saknad.

Sven Erik har varit ovärderlig i utvecklingen av både forskning och utbildning inom brandvetenskap, brandteknik, riskhantering och samhällsskydd, vid Lunds universitet.

I brandvetenskapsvärlden kommer han att bli ihågkommen som en pionjär och visionär inom området parametriska bränder och för införandet av riskhantering i utformning av brandskydd. Inom brandingenjörsutbildningen kommer han att bli ihågkommen som en av författarna till den första läroplanen i brandteknik som publicerades i Fire Safety Journal, 1995.

Tillsammans med nu avlidne professor emeritus Ove Pettersson var han en av de drivande krafterna under uppstarten av IAFSS (International Association of Fire Safety Science). Han var en huvudfigur i uppstarten av Civilingenjörsprogrammet i Riskhantering vid Lunds universitet och var en av initiativtagarna och ledarna vid Lunds universitets centrum för riskanalys och riskhantering (LUCRAM) tillsammans med Prof. Roland Akselsson.

Sven Erik Magnusson föddes 3 januari 1938 och växte upp nära Lönsboda i nordöstra Skåne. Han började sin universitetskarriär som doktorand hos professor Ove Pettersson och tillsammans med professor emeritus Sven Thelandersson försvarade han sin avhandling mot tre opponenter.

Sven Eriks och Svens arbete har senare kommit att bli grunden för parametriska bränder i Eurocodes och betraktas som banbrytande. Sven Erik var också aktiv som forskare inom brandutvecklingsområdet.

Efter Ove Pettersons pensionering utnämndes Sven Erik till professor vid avdelningen för brandteknik. I början av sin akademiska karriär var han också tillsammans med Robert Jönsson och andra, djupt involverad i uppstarten av Brandingenjörsprogrammet vid LTH.

I mitten av 1990-talet flyttades hans forskningsfokus successivt mot riskhantering och samhällsskydd. Ungefär samtidigt initierade och ledde han utvecklingen av Civilingenjörsprogrammet i Riskhantering. I slutet av sin karriär stöttade Sven Erik alltid den yngre generationen genom handledning vid ansökningar och som mentor för flera doktorander inom riskområdet.

Utöver att han var en enastående akademiker inom brandsäkerhet och riskhantering var Sven Erik mycket nyfiken och intresserad av samhällsfrågor och politik och han höll sig noga informerad om såväl aktuella frågor som historia. Hans kulturella intressen omfattade bland annat teater och klassisk musik och han höll inte bara hjärnan i form utan tränade kroppen också, mest genom spinningspass. Sven Erik tillbringade mycket tid på skogsgården i Småland tillsammans med den närmaste familjen, sin älskade hustru Lisbeth, deras barn, barnbarn och vänner.

Vi kommer att minnas Sven Erik som en framstående forskare och som en varm och omtänksam person. Vi är många som har honom att tacka för så mycket. Sven Erik kommer att saknas av många kolleger runt om i världen.

Marcus Abrahamson och Patrick van Hees, med hjälp av Lisbeth, Sven Eriks fru.

In English:

Professor Emeritus Sven Erik Magnusson passed away on December 15 2014, leaving family, friends and colleagues in sorrow and grief. Professor Magnusson has been invaluable in the development of both research and education in fire science, fire safety engineering and risk management and societal safety at Lund University.

In the fire science world he will be remembered as a pioneer and visionary in the area of parametric fires and for the introduction of risk management for fire safety design. Related to fire engineering education he will be remembered as one of the authors of the first curriculum for fire safety engineering published in the Fire Safety Journal in 1995.  Together with the late Prof. em. Ove Petterson he was one of the driving forces during the start-up of IAFSS (International Association of Fire Safety Science). He was a principal figure in the start-up of the MSc program in Risk management and safety engineering at Lund University and in initiating and leading Lund University Centre for Risk Assessment and Management (LUCRAM) together with Prof. Roland Akselsson.

Prof. Sven Erik Magnusson was born on January 3^rd 1938 and he grew up near Lönsboda, in the northeast part of Skåne. He started his university career as PhD student with Prof. Ove Pettersson and defended his PhD thesis in a joined session with Prof. em. Sven Thelandersson. Together they had 3 opponents for the discussion forum. The work of Magnusson and Thelandersson was later taken on as basis for the parametric fires in the Eurocodes and was considered as pioneer work. He was also active as a researcher in the area of fire development where he was involved in a number of research projects dealing with early room fires in cooperation with SP in Borås. In the start up phase of standardisation of the room corner test he was chairman of that working group in ISO TC92 SC1.  After the retirement of Prof. Ove Petterson he was appointed professor at the Department of Fire Safety Engineering. In the beginning of his academic career he was heavily involved in the start up of the course activities of the BSc program in fire protection engineering together with Robert Jönsson and the staff at the department of fire safety engineering.

In the mid 90ies his focus of research moved bit-by-bit to the area of risk management and societal safety and he started activities such as LUCRAM and introduced multidisciplinary research in the department. Around the same time he initiated and led the development of the MSc program in Risk management and safety engineering. Furthermore he led the research activities this area in a way that generated continuous growth of the risk related research at the university. At the end of his career he always supported the young generation by leading the writing of larger research applications and being mentor for many of the PhD students in risk research.

After his retirement he still kept close links with late Prof. Philip Thomas and felt a deep sorrow when Philip passed away earlier in 2014.

In addition to being a distinguished academic in the fields of fire safety and risk management, Sven Erik was very curious and interested in the surrounding society and he was keen on keeping up with current affairs as well as understanding history. His cultural interests included the theatre and classical music, and he was keen on exercising not only the mind but also the body mainly through spinning classes. He was very passionate about spending time in his country house with the closest family, his beloved wife Lisbeth, their children and grandchildren, and friends.

We will remember Sven Erik as a great researcher as well as a warm and caring person and many of us have him to thank for very much today. Many friends and colleagues from across the world will sadly miss Sven Erik.

Marcus Abrahamson and Patrick van Hees, with help from Lisbeth, Sven Eriks’ wife