Aycke Smook died in hospital on March 6th 2023 after a period of deteriorating health. He will be remembered for his unwavering commitment to the issue of the Right to Die in general, and to Right to Die Europe in particular. After organising the 1990 WF Conference in Maastricht on behalf of Dutch Right-to-Die organisation NVVE, he took the initiative to start Right to Die Europe (RtD-E)in 1993 – originally as a European Division of the World Federation of Right to Die Societites (WFRtDS), later as an independent organisation – to which he served as long time President.
Aycke was President of the WFRtDS from 1994 until 1996. He managed to get RtD-E recognised as a NGO with participatory status to the Council of Europe and as member of the Appellate Committee of the Conference of INGO’s.