During this time, I was impressed by the fact that she never complained, but instead accepted her fate with dignity, fought for her life, and kept her sense of humor until the very end.

I have known – even though it is difficult to say: I knew – Yve Stöbel-Richter for almost 36 years, since the fall of 1989 when I began my sociology studies at the University of Leipzig. We both experienced the fall of 1989 in Leipzig, what is now known as the ‘peaceful revolution’. At the end of 1989, we distributed questionnaires during the Monday demonstrations to investigate the motivations of the participants. We were student representatives advocating for reforms at the then Karl-Marx-University Leipzig, and ensured that the interests of students were taken into account in the founding of the Institute of Sociology. I also remember joint excursions to Bremen or Paris during our studies… Eventually, our studies ended, and we went our separate ways. Yve moved to the University of Grenoble in France, while I went to "the island" in London.

Yve Stöbel-Richter returned to Leipzig and began her academic career in medical sociology in 1993 at the Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology at the Medical Faculty of the University of Leipzig under Prof. Dr. E. Brähler, where she completed her doctoral thesis in 2001 on the topic "Childlessness as Intention – The Relevance of Personal and Societal Childlessness Motives as Predictors of Current Childlessness" with the distinction "Magna cum laude".

She pursued her academic career with above-average dedication and outstanding scholarly achievements, which led her from a position as a research assistant (2001-2004) to a junior professorship in Medical Sociology and head of the junior research group "Medical Sociology with a Focus on: Socio-demographic Population Development and Medical-Technical Progress" (2004-2007). In parallel, she worked on her habilitation thesis on the topic “Fertility and Partnership – Family Formation Processes Over the Life Course,” which she successfully completed in 2008.

This was followed by an indefinite scientific position as Deputy Head of Department, culminating in her appointment as an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Leipzig in recognition of her exceptional academic achievements. During these years, she also gained international experience at renowned American universities such as McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and the University of Maryland in Baltimore, USA.

In addition to the aforementioned research foci, I would like to highlight an especially important scientific achievement in which Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Stöbel-Richter was a key contributor: the joint leadership since 2003 of the Saxon Longitudinal Study (with Prof. Brähler and Prof. Berth) on the main topics of unemployment and health, as well as family formation processes.

As mentioned earlier, Yve Stöbel-Richter and I lost touch after the end of our sociology studies at the University of Leipzig. Our surprise was all the greater when our paths crossed again in 2014 – this time as professors at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG), albeit in different faculties. I had been appointed Professor of Social Gerontology at the Faculty of Social Sciences in 2011 – Yve Stöbel-Richter became Professor of Health Sciences at the Faculty of Management and Cultural Sciences in 2014. We quickly reconnected, renewed our friendship, and tackled our next joint project: the founding of the interdisciplinary research institute "Health, Aging, Technology" (GAT) in 2016. Yve Stöbel-Richter, along with Prof. Dr. Ing. Jörg Lässig, was instrumental in the establishment of the institute. Since its founding, we have built and led the GAT Institute together.

Furthermore, there were also opportunities for cross-faculty, trusting cooperation in our roles as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Management and Cultural Sciences and Senator of HSZG (2015-2020) (Prof. Stöbel-Richter) and as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (2015-2021) (Prof. Hoff).

Within the GAT, Yve Stöbel-Richter was responsible for the research area "Work and Health" and played a key role in expanding the initial focus on aging (A) to also include work (A and/or W). Additionally, she contributed to several concrete research projects within the GAT, such as her role as project leader of the SMWK-funded research projects "Intergenerational Inheritance of Familial Patterns. Intergenerational Inheritance of Habitus, Family Patterns, and Career Aspects Against the Backdrop of Social Upheavals" or "Academic Nursing in the Oberlausitz Region - An Opportunity for a Reorientation of Nursing in Education and Profession."

Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Yve Stöbel-Richter will be greatly missed in the future – as a highly respected, experienced, and scientifically outstanding researcher and university lecturer, as a collegial and always appreciative colleague, and as a good friend. Yve, we miss you!

Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoff
Director of the GAT Institute