In memoriam: Mihajlo Spasić (1952–2024)

Professor Mihajlo Spasić, or Spasa how his pupils and friends have called him, left us suddenly on August the 21st 2024. He was truly and widely loved and respected by his colleagues and students because of his kindness and willingness to advise and help, fundamental understanding of biochemistry and capacity to explain complex processes (which comes only with deep knowledge of the subject), and his wit and vivid spirit. Not many professors at the University of Belgrade have been rated by their students with an average mark of 10.

Professor Spasić spent his research professional career (1978-2019) at the Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković” and Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade. Spasa’s favorite field was metabolism of free radicals, which he pioneered in Serbia. After obtaining PhD in Chemistry at former Faculty of Science Belgrade (in 1986), he passed his postdoctoral training (1987-1988) at the Department of Physical Biochemistry, Institute de Biologie Physico-Chimique (Paris, France), set up by Prof A. M. Michelson. This visit was the key event and the beginning of his long-term journey of free radical research in Serbia. Initial collaborative work with a few of his colleagues blossomed into the network of nearly a hundred researchers examining redox processes in biochemistry, physiology, molecular biology, food science, and different fields of medicine. Spasa was the key figure behind the development of this network. His philosophy was to help the experts in all life science fields to recognize, appreciate, and tackle the prooxidative/redox component of their scientific problems. His reference list consists of about 200 papers, cited more than 2400 times, and most support the concept of free radical adaptive homeostasis, the creation of which they significantly contributed.

Spasa finalized the transformation of Yugoslav Biochemical Society into Serbian Biochemical Society (SBS), reinforced SBS presence within the FEBS, and acted as the first president of SBS. He shaped SBS in what it is now, a viable regional hub for biochemists and alike with regular annual conference that promotes young leaders and students and an active participation in FEBS activities.

Our dear Professor was a multifaceted researcher and a highly respected figure in the international biochemical community. He was also a very warm person, a friend with a lot of life experience and stories from which he tried to extract laws that go beyond biochemistry and apply to a bit more complex systems such as general or Serbian society. He came from a well-off family and spent his childhood in the Aleksandar Stamboliski Street, which lays in the elite part of Belgrade. However, his neighbors and friends came from all societal classes, a common setup in the post-war Yugoslavia. Probably this made him both a proud and a relaxed persona, and it was the basis of his sense of humor and irony. We laughed and learned a lot with Spasa. He will be truly missed.

Ivan Spasojević and Duško Blagojević