During the annual Dutch Demography Day, held on November 28, 2018, the Board and members of the Netherlands Demographic Society appointed Nico van Nimwegen and Frans Willekens Honorary Members of the NVD.
Nico van Nimwegen has been appointed Honorary Member for many years of special merits for the Society. He has been a member of the Board of the NVD for a very long time. From 1981-1983 he was secretary and since 2002 he held the so-called “quality seat” of the NIDI, uninterrupted until 2017. Many NVD activities, such as the Demography Day, were (co-)designed by Nico. A society like the NVD is in the first place a community of people who work together. Nico, like no other and in his own way, promoted that spirit of cooperation and collegiality in the NVD. Because of this the NVD is still young and vital, even after 90 years. We owe him a lot of gratitude for this.
Frans Willekens has been appointed Honorary Member for his extraordinary merits in the context of the goals of the Society. Frans has made important contributions to various domains of demography. His most important contributions are in the field of the life course approach and multistate models, and duration models of the timing of life course events. He also is a highly esteemed researcher in the field of migration models. His significance for demography is great. At the annual meeting of the NVD the proposal of the Board to appoint Nico and Frans Honorary Member was unanimously and with applause supported by the members.
On behalf of the NVD, Leo van Wissen (chairman of the NVD).