Fran Macy, the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Safe Energy, died yesterday, January 20th.

Dear Friends,

We are terribly sad to inform you that Fran Macy, the co-founder and co-director of the Center for Safe Energy, died yesterday, January 20th. Fran Macy He watched the inauguration of Barack Obama with great pride and happiness. Then he lay down for a rest and died of a heart attack in his own bed.

Fran's family is sitting with him at home today in the Buddhist tradition of reading to him. There are no announcements yet about plans for a memorial gathering, but I will send any such information as soon as we are told.

As will become clearer when a more thorough obituary appears, Fran was a towering figure in the world of building international understanding between the worlds of Russia and the other former Soviet republics, on the one hand, and the US and Europe, on the other, with his international citizen exchanges dating back to the
early 1960s.

Messages of sorrow and condolence are flooding in from all over the world. One friend from Russia writes:

“Dear Fran's family and friends,
please take our condolenses, but we are sure that whatever happens to his hysical body Fran cannot die, because he will always live in our hearts, diferent ones - not quite young, mature and very young, like my daughter's (she met him when she was 5, but remembers him very well). Buddists or orthodox, we are sure that his serene soul and courageous spirit are eternal, Fran is not dead, he is always around!”

Fran was the key catalyst in launching and supporting several Earth Island Institute initiatives - Baikal Watch, Center for Safe Energy, and Altai Project - beginning with a "citizen diplomacy" trip in 1989 co-sponsored by Earth Island and the Center for Citizen Initiatives to meet with emerging Soviet environmental activists in Leningrad, Moscow, and Vilnius.

Fran's big story integrated his advocacy work for safe energy with efforts to awaken human consciousness about the natural world, particularly through the "deep ecology" training work that he shared alongside his wife Joanna Macy with audiences worldwide.

With warm thoughts of Fran's rich legacy,

The Center for Safe Energy staff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Center for Safe Energy
центр по безопасной энергии
2828 Cherry Street
Berkeley, CA 94705
Tel: 510. 883-1177
Fax: 510. 843-9947
E-mail: cseprograms@igc.org

***

Fransis Macy passed away on the 20th of January, 2009 in Berkeley (California, USA). His almost 82-year-long life has just ended. Fran Macy made an epoch of fight for nuclear weapons non-proliferation, safety energy development, advancement of deep ecological consciousness, understanding that we are a part of our Living Planet Earth and we must take care of its health as of our own combining efforts of social movements in Russia, the USA and other countries.
Fran was well known, loved and awaited on all continents of the world.
He was one of the founders and co-directors of the Center for Safe Energy (Berkeley, California), Deep Ecology Institute (California, USA).
A lot of conferences on problems of nuclear technology safety, nuclear non-proliferation, energy strategy were organized in Russia thanks to his participation. Hundreds of teachers of the Russian schools and environmental activists learnt principles of Deep Ecology – philosophy of harmony between man and nature at the training conducted by Fran.
Thanks to Fran dozens of the Russians had an opportunity to get familiar with achievements of renewable energy of the USA, experience of democratic public involvement in decision-making process regarding important environmental problems of the country. Therefore, seeds for collaboration of public movements of Russia and the USA came up following the end of Cold War.
In 2001 in Saint-Petersburg Fransis Macy in association with Alexey Vladimirovich Yablokov became «For nuclear-free world» prize-winners – “Life achievements” nomination.
Fran was our friend… A lot of our colleagues remember him today.
Here are a few of them who immediately responded to this sad event …

My dear Brother Fran,
You are not with us anymore on our planet. It is so sad! The world is empty without you! And I am crying…
However, You are in my heart, in our common ideas for future actions for rescue of our planet. I feel it and I am well aware of it.
Thank You that You have been with me for 14 years of my life
People from different parts of Russia called me and requested to render their words of Love to yo:. Vladimir Mikheev from Krasnoyarsk, Michel Piskunov from Dimitrovgrad, Dmitry Ribakov from Petrozavodsk, Andrey Kozlovich from Nadvoic, Gennady Shabarin from Saint-Petersburg, Irina Reznikova from Kostroma. They were sorry they could not do it in English. But I am sure You feel this Love without words. It does not need any translation.
A lot of people from our vast Russia remember meetings with you at the seminars on Deep Ecology, energy and antinuclear conferences... It means You are a part of Russia, a part of our planet Earth!
Thank you for giving an impetus to harmonization of my country, my planet!
I will always remember You, my Brother!
I mourn together with Fran’s near and dear ones…

Oleg Bodrov,
South shore of the Gulf of Finland, Baltics

***

Dear Fran!
It seems at the very moment when you went out of the world, I was telling my wife about You and our plans.
The next morning I came to know You are not among us anymore.
The news of your departure stunned me. It always seems to me that such wonderful people live long.
You have always been an image of a real American for me: buoyant, smart, amiable and ready to help, irreconcilable to injustice of the world.
Your strong personality combined serenity and self-control with active living position for which you stand always and everywhere. You irrevocably surprised everyone with your robust intellect, fresh thoughts, bright ideas.
You could cross the Ocean in order to immerse yourself with like-minded persons into Deep Ecology on the shore of the beautiful lake in Karelia.
Special creative atmosphere of your seminars made all participants reveal the best what lives inside us and share it with others. Everyone who visited Your seminar on Deep Ecology at least once dreamt to be in its atmosphere one more time, to hear your magnificent voice infusing with hope and faith. Everyone who met you even once was presented with a particle of Your soul.
Let particles of Your soul presented to us so generously stay with us forever helping us to survive in this complicated and furious world.
Let your soul ascend to the sky and let your spirit incarnate in a body of a wonderful and perfect man as You are!

Gennady Shabarin, Saint-Petersburg

***

Dear Enid, dear Fran's family and friends,
please take our condolenses, but we I am sure that whatever happens to his physical body Fran cannot die, because he will always live in our hearts, diferent ones - not quite young, mature and very young, like my daughter's (she met him when she was 5, but remembers him very well).
Buddists or orthodox, we are sure that his serene soul and courageous spirit are eternal, Fran is not dead, he is always around!

Tatiana Talalaeva, member of Fran's World Family
St. Petersburg, Russia

***

Dear Fran's family and friends,
Take my deepest condolence from Russia. Fran was wonderful and very kind person. Everybody knows him as a great professional and real friend. We proud of him, we love him and we will miss him so much Fran, you are always in my heart and thank you so much for everything.

Julia Korshunova,
Apatity, Murmansk region, Russia

***

Dear Enid and Oleg
I am sorry to hear about Fran, my condolences to all of you.
Enid, you wanted a prayer, so I try to write to you my thoughts and feelings, as I don’t know the true format of such prayers. And you will choose what you want to do with my words.
I am sorry to hear you passed on, Fran. For those who are left without you, I am sad.
But although this was indeed very sad news, it sounds like it was a good way to go, happy, at home. In our family, together with our neighbours, we also watched the inauguration with great happiness and tears of joy and emotions. It is a remarkable victory for the US and the world, and I am happy than you got to witness this before you died.
You had a long life, you did great things, you made a difference. Because of your choices and actions the world is better than it would have been without you. We take comfort in this, now that you are not with us.
I only met you once, in Sosnovy Bor. You gave me impression as a giant. Maybe it was your age, maybe your remarkable knowledge. Or maybe your sympathetic looks. A big friendly giant, as in the novel by Roald Dahl. Growing up, it was one of my favourite books.
I am sorry for your family, your friends, your colleagues. The loss seems huge. You are irreplaceable, but still we have faith that life will go on, we know that work will go on, because we still have so much to accomplish, so much to do. And even more now that you are not here anymore.
Best
Kjersti Album,
Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature,
Oslo, Norway

Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues of Fran Macy,

Please accept our sincere condolences for the loss of Fran Macy. On a personal level, I deeply regret that I cannot now get to know him better. Our several telephone conversations in preparation for the Greenworld Hearings in October and subsequent conversations laying plans for next summer, made it clear to me that Fran was a rare and true champion of a living and liveable earth. Rest in peace campanion in the good fight.

Raymond Shadis
Executive Director
Friends of the Coast
Edgecomb, Maine
Trustee
New England Coalition
Brattleboro, Vermont

Dear friends, everybody, who know and love Fran Macy!
Our last meeting in St.Petersburg October 27 left impression, that he is rich of hopes, and, as ever, inspired with interests to friends and partners, full of plans for cooperation.
I'm deepluy distressed to loose so great friend, partner and often - spiritual leader. We had a feeling of his suppot "over the ocean".
It is huge loss..
In my memory there are many wonderful meetings, starting from Lomonosov in 1995, collaborative projects, common feelings.
For me these were the most bright monents in my life, which gave a lot to me and my colleagues in Friends of the Baltic NGO.
Memory about Fran will stay with me for as long as I live...

Olga Senova
Friends of the Baltic NGO