It is with great regret that we announce the death in May this year of Heide-Irene Schmidt. She was the Reviews Editor for Contemporary European History for eleven years, responsible for the first issue in March 1992 to that of May 2003. She established the tradition of the impartiality and rigour in book reviews required for a first-class journal, as well as fostering the journal's reputation for commissioning notable review articles from a wide range of scholars working in several languages and in a number of countries. Her knowledge of the work being done in contemporary history around the world was immensely impressive, and the journal benefited enormously.

She was also one of a small group of historians who by the 1990s took an increasing interest in the history of development aid. In 2000 she proposed that the journal publish a special issue on the subject. She co-operated closely with Helge Pharo, another member of the journal's Editorial Board, and it was published as the November 2003 issue (12: 4) with the title ‘Europe and the First Development Decade: The Foreign Economic Assistance Policy of European Donor Countries, 1958–1972’. Subsequent to its publication, she became a key member of an international network of development aid historians, and worked enthusiastically to establish a secure spot for development aid history in the profession.

Heide-Irene enjoyed a closely knit family life with her husband Professor Gustav Schmidt, also a Board member, and her three daughters. Among her other activities she designed their house in Herdecke, which was not only beautiful but had the entire top floor devoted to her and Gustav's reading and writing of history. The jealousy of other academics was, however, dissolved by her hospitality and charm. She will be much missed.