In memoriam Professor Jean-Antoine Rioux (1925-2017)

Born in Naucelle (Aveyron, south-central France), in a family firmly rooted in the Limousin region, Jean-Antoine Rioux (Figure 1) spent his childhood in Le Vigan, in the heart of the wild Cevennes mountain range. It is undoubtedly there that he acquired his passion for studying nature, which underpinned his activities during his whole life. This fascination led him to deepen the study of botany, a skill which gave him the opportunity later on, between 1977 and 1993, to become the director of the Botanical Garden (“Jardin des Plantes”) of the city of Montpellier [12]. He devoted many years to this task with talent and perseverance, preserving and enriching the plant collections, renovating the greenhouses, promoting the garden’s image, and ensuring its protection through its classification among “Noticeable Sites and Landscapes” in 1982 and “Historical Monuments” in 1992. To this initial passion was added a strong medical vocation. He was a brilliant medical student during his studies in Montpellier, and graduated top of the class in the “Concours de l’Internat” (a competitive examination to recruit hospital residents) in 1951. He was then appointed as Assistant Professor in Montpellier University Hospital and specialized in dermatology and lung diseases. But in 1952, he soon found the area in which he reached his greatest achievements, by joining the Laboratory of Medical Natural History headed by Hervé Harant, skillful naturalist and parasitologist with great scientific understanding. Jean-Antoine Rioux then specialized in parasitology, and he continued his whole career in this organization termed the “Laboratory of Parasitology” which later became the “Laboratory of Medical Ecology and Parasite Pathology”. Jean-Antoine Rioux built a remarkable establishment, recognized and supported by research authorities, which allowed him to conduct research work leading to more than 500？publications