Univ. Prof. Dr. Rudolf Slavicek 1928-2022
Rudolf Slavicek was an inspirational, indefatigable, strong-willed, and powerful man. He devoured life. Procrastination was no option for him. He forgave mistakes but did not leave room for weakness, tough and compassionate as a good mentor should be. He was warm and welcoming, loved to converse and was always eager to learn.
He was a visionary, a main player in the fields of oral medicine and functional dentistry. His lively and vigorous personality reflected in how he approached his discipline. You showed him teeth and he saw a complex and dynamic system. You said structures and he meant function. He understood the need for accurate and quantitative diagnosis, never forgetting that humans are the result of an evolutionary process, embedded in their environment, acting in it and reacting to it as sentient and emotional beings.
Professor Slavicek witnessed only the dawn of this new year although he still had so much planned for the future. The old age had challenged his body but nothing managed to weaken his curiosity or quench his thirst for knowledge. Knowledge that he tirelessly sought for, that he firmly believed should be shared and be for all, that he wanted to be deep and encompassing. And thus, he passionately supported generations of dentists and researchers, and learned and taught assiduously embracing medicine, philosophy and the natural sciences.
Rudolf Slavicek will be missed as father, grandfather, great-grandfather and father-in-law, as mentor, as friend and for the caring and genuine man he was. But his legacy will remain strong thanks to his discipleship and the wide community of dentists, doctors and researchers that he built. His teachings will continue to be disseminated, and his diagnostic concepts and treatment methods will still benefit patients worldwide.
Professor Slavicek was a doctor, a mentor, a master, a thinker, an inventor, a philanthrope. His family, friends, colleagues, collaborators, students, patients relished from his long and successful life. They all think that Rudolf made their world a better place, and now feel lonelier without him.