On Thursday, May 17, 2018, Ing. František Matúš, CSc., a member and former Deputy Chair of the Board of the Institute of Information Theory and Automation, passed away. With his passing, the Institute has lost a distinguished researcher in the field of Information Theory, whose professional interests spanned not only Probability Theory but also Algebra, Cryptography, and Matroid Theory.

Fero, as he was known to colleagues and friends, was associated with the Institute of Information Theory and Automation throughout his entire professional life. He joined the Institute in 1984 after graduating from the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. He received the CSc. title (then equivalent to today’s Ph.D.) from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences four years later. Thanks to his deep knowledge in various branches of mathematics, he collaborated with many scientists from diverse fields. His longest and perhaps most fruitful collaboration was with Prof. Imre Csiszár, focused on the properties of exponential families; his most cited paper, co-authored with Prof. Jan Flusser, lies in the field of Image Processing. 

We will remember Fero Matúš as a true Renaissance man: a mathematician, a musician, and a gifted linguist. With his death, the Institute of Information Theory and Automation has lost not only a top-ranking scientist but also a skilled organizer. He actively contributed to the organization of many conferences and seminars and served for many years as the Head of the Department of Decision-Making Theory. He will also be missed at Charles University, where he taught at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, particularly in the Department of Probability and Mathematical Statistics and the Department of Algebra.

Above all, his death is a heartbreaking loss for his family, to whom we offer our heartfelt condolences. He was a devoted husband and a proud father. He was also a caring son, and his parents had every reason to be proud of him.

Image: Fero and his two Jankas – wife Janka (on the left) and sister Janka (on the right) in their favorite candy bar in Dolní Chabry.