Prof. Hans Elsasser (1943 - 2026)
We mourn the loss of our esteemed former colleague, Prof. Dr. Hans Elsasser. He passed away on 15 May 2026 at the age of 82.
Hans Elsasser was Professor of Economic Geography from 1987 to 2009 and significantly shaped our institute. Long after his retirement, he remained closely connected to the University of Zurich and our institute. He served as president of the Seniors’ University and regularly visited us at GIUZ.
In his research, Hans Elsasser focused on the consequences of climate change for economic development in the Alpine regions. In his spare time, he loved exploring new landscapes by bicycle with his wife Beatrix and reading crime novels. He was happy to share his passion for crime novels. Each year, he would give all of his group a selected crime novel as a Christmas present.
In particular, we will remember him for his incredible generosity and his subtle sense of humour. His generosity was evident, for example, in the fact that he always gave his staff plenty of scope to pursue their own research interests – in doing so he played a key role in the establishment of geographic gender studies as a research topic at GIUZ. At a dissertation celebration, he once said that he saw himself as a harbour: he was always curious to see what exciting cargo the ships arriving in his research group would bring, and he was always incredibly proud of what they would take with them when they set sail.
His subtle sense of humour allowed him to laugh at himself with self-deprecating wit. He often remarked that one of the things he appreciated about growing older was that he could now read the same crime novels several times over, because he kept forgetting how they ended.
Hans Elsasser’s life has come full circle. As the Department of Geography, we shall remember him with gratitude.
On behalf of the Department of Geography
Prof. Dr Ross Purves, Head of Department