Dear friends and colleagues,

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Klaus Fiedler has passed away after a serious illness, far too early, at the age of 74.

Klaus was a colleague, advisor, mentor, and friend to many of us. He was one of the most distinctive and influential voices in European social psychology. A distinguished professor at Heidelberg University in Germany, he maintained many formal and informal connections with universities and colleagues across Europe and beyond. His work shaped research on social cognition, judgment and decision making, communication, affect, and methodology. Across these domains, he repeatedly pushed the field beyond isolated effects toward stronger theory, better methods, and better evidence, always seeking a deeper understanding of the human mind.

Many of us will remember Klaus not only for his intellectual contributions, but also for the way he thought and argued: sharply, independently, with unusual theoretical range, and with an encyclopedic knowledge of psychology and science more generally. What made Klaus so special was also visible in the many memorable encounters people had with him — whether in a lecture hall, a conference room, or a bar. In all these contexts, his ideas on information sampling and ecologies, adaptive cognition, metacognitive myopia, and the quality of psychological theorizing inspired generations of researchers and will continue to do so.

For many colleagues, students, and friends, his loss is also deeply personal. Klaus’s office door was always open to anyone, regardless of status or background. He encouraged and supported many students, and many of us would not be social psychologists today without Klaus. We will remember his extraordinary and contagious love of science, his curiosity, his optimism, and the brilliance of his thinking.

We are exploring the possibility of a small memorial gathering during the EASP General Meeting in Strasbourg, to give colleagues and friends an opportunity to remember Klaus together. Further details will follow if this can be arranged.

Our thoughts are with his wife Michaela Wänke, his family, his colleagues, students, and all who were close to him.

With sadness and gratitude,

Christian Unkelbach, Hans Alves, Tobias Vogel, Florian Kutzner, Mandy Hütter, Leonel Garcia-Marques, André Mata, Mário Ferreira, & Alex Koch
on behalf of many friends and colleagues