When Mike Waters asked me to put together a few words about Metz my first thought was “panic, I’ve never done an obituary before” and my second was “OK, it can’t be too hard”!

How wrong can you be? I’ve called everyone I can think of and got almost no more information than I had to start with.

What can I tell you, Gerard was 95 when he died (it looks like it’s a good thing being an Hon CAD. the last funeral I went to was Albert Milhado’s – an honorary founder member – and he was 94).

Gerard founded CADS in 1972 together with the British Consul-General at the time (Albert H. Hughes OBE) and a few anglophile businessmen. When I mentioned this at Metz’s funeral everybody said “Oh, that’s normal; whenever he saw there was a need for a society or a club, he just started one!”.

He was always a very keen supporter of CADS and made a point of always welcoming new members and making them feel at home. I only became Chairman because he proposed me and I shall be eternally grateful for him seeing something in me that I had never seen in myself. Once I became Chairman he sat near me for the first few lunches, passing helpful comments (‘don’t talk too quickly’) and guiding me where necessary; he was very helpful.

He was a very gentle man, in all meanings of the term. Jean tells me that whenever he came to CADS in recent years she would sit with him and have a quiet chat which they both enjoyed.

The most common comment I have had about Metz in the last few days was “nice guy”. I think that sums him up perfectly.

Goodbye Metz and thanks for everything.

Michael D. Carn – Hon. CAD no. 7.