It is with great sadness that we mark the death of eminent fisheries social scientist and geographer David Symes, Reader Emeritus, and Honorary Fellow of the Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University.  David was long associated with the activities of the CRE, initially through his friendship with Philip Lowe and work with the European Society for Rural Sociology, and over the last two decades through his long standing collaboration with Jeremy Phillipson. All our thoughts are with David’s wife Annick and all the family. Read his obituary here.