OBITUARY
Gabriel SEGRETAIN
Honorary Professor at the PASTEUR INSTITUTE, Paris, France.

Born on 12 January 1913, Gabriel Segretain first graduated from the Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Agronomie in Paris.  In 1938 he joined the PASTUER INSTITUTE and, with an award from the Fondation Roux, he worked in the Department of plant Mycology and Physiology.  He obtained a further degree as Licencie es Sciences in 1942.  Having started as an assistant in 1941, he was put in charge of the laboratory in 1948 and became Head of the Department in 1960.

Under the direction of Joseph MAGROU, the then Head of Department, Gabriel SEGRETAIN began his career with the study of tobacco mosaic virus and plant carcinogenesis.  Later, at the request of Noel BERNARD, deputy director of the PASTEUR INSTITUTE, he took on the study of human and animal pathogenic fungi.  His work quickly won international recognition.  He became an Expert of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for pathogenic fungi, while his unit became a WHO reference centre.  He concentrated on Mycetomes and conducted field studies in Senegal and Mauritania.  He discovered new pathogenic agents in actinomycetes as well as in many other species.  He was particularly interested in a pathogenic Histoplasma for African monkeys.  He discovered a new form of Aspergillus fumigatus.  He studied, identified and named Penicillium marnefei, a reticulosis agent discovered by CAPONI and SUREAU on bamboo rats in Vietnam.  Nowadays, these last two fungi are known as opportunistic agents, namely in HIV sufferers who live or have travelled in endemic zones.

In 1953, with his two colleagues Edouard DROUET and Francois MARIAT, Gabriel SEGRETAIN developed the course on Medical Mycology at the PASTEUR INSTITUTE.  This course of study was essential for the advancement of medical  mycology both in France and throughout the world.

Between 1953 and 1954, Gabriel SEGRETAIN, Edouard DROUET and Francois MARIAT, nick-named the ‘Three Musketeers’, decided, in cooperation with some thirty French speaking mycologists, to establish the French Society of Medical Mycology.  A grand celebration was held at the PASTEUR INSTITUTE in Paris to mark the legal constitution of the Society in 1956.  Professor TREFOUEL confirmed in his inaugural speech as Director, the Institute’s high level of interest in the field of medical mycology.   

During the Microbiology Congress in Rome in 1953, Gabriel SEGRETAIN, together with his team, also proposed the establishment of the International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM).  The Society was founded in 1954 during the International Botanical Conference in Paris.  Gabriel SEGRETAIN was first elected Vice President and later became President from 1977 to 1981.

In 1975, Gabriel SEGRETAIN was awarded the honour of ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur’ for his scientific work, presented by Professor MONOD, winner of the Nobel Prize.  He also became recognised as ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Sante Publique’ and received, among other awards, the gold medal of the ‘Societe d’Encouragement du Progres’. 

Also in 1975, the Ministry of Education for South East Asia invited him to teach mycology in Saigon, Vietnam, and subsequently at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he taught from 1978 until 1982.

Thanks to his tremendous human qualities, he was able as Head of Department, to weld together a strong team in which the work and achievements of each individual were valued and recognised.  A large number of internationally recognised scientists came to work with his team, many of them becoming lifelong friends.

Gabriel SEGRETAIN, Honorary Professor at the PASTEUR INSTITUTE, will be remembered as a strong and warm personality, devoted throughout his life to Science and Teaching.  He retired in 1981 and died on 13 March 2008 at Meudon, his home for many years.