On November 11, our friend Stephen Almaseanu left us. He died suddenly at the age of 55. Stephen was one of the most erudite French Holmesians. A member of the Société Sherlock Holmes de France , the Sherlock Holmes Society of London and the Oscar Wilde Society , he had become an encyclopedia of Holmesian texts by reading everything that the community had published since its origins. Encyclopédie is, moreover, his lifelong project. An encyclopedia in French bringing together all possible entries on the subject. It includes the themes, words and names cited in the Canon, Holmesians, their writings, authors of pastiche, pastiches, adaptations for all media. Not forgetting what we affectionately call Sherlockonneries, those objects of worship that we love or that amuse us, like the toys and figurines that he collected, which will remain one of the most complete in the world for a long time. In short, it is a colossal work, undertaken in the last century, alone, then opened to his comrades of the SSHF who, laboriously, enriched the manuscript. It now exceeds a thousand pages, and the work is far from being finished. Holmesian activity is a time-consuming pastime. You have to have time and Stephen has always lacked it. I have never seen him take vacations or public holidays. Even his nights were busy. His priority remained Justice. A magistrate with qualities and skills unanimously recognized by his profession, a researcher and teacher, I will let the specialists talk about it. I only knew the Stephen of my free time, the one who was involved in Holmesian activities, the one who filled in the sections of his encyclopedia, the one who read the Anglo-Saxon Holmesian publications every month, the one who gave me information and advice in preparing and holding the activities of the SSHF . He should have been our secretary a long time ago, but, due to lack of free time to do it properly, he kept putting off taking up his post. He was our assistant secretary while waiting to retire. I don't know if he was serious when he mentioned this period of his life. In the event, my decision had been made for several years: to hand over the presidency of our association to him the day he was available. I still had to hold on for another decade since he was only 55 this year.
Did he feel that time is precious and that we should never put off until tomorrow what we can do now? Last January, he had announced to me his desire to devote more time to Holmesian activity. And to start, we had to finish the encyclopedia. We had drawn up a work plan, dividing up the subjects to improve productivity. The phenomenon generated by the character of Sherlock Holmes is constantly evolving. It is fortunate that others are jealous. But it always requires more data updates. Every month, every week, every day, new things appear, and they have a place in a Holmesian encyclopedia. The work has no end and that is the greatest difficulty in accomplishing it. When can we put down the pencil, write the last word, and send the manuscript to the printer? No one had that answer. But often, what brings us the most pleasure and satisfaction is the path we travel, and not the arrival at the destination, symbolizing the end of an adventure. Who wants it to end? Neither Stephen nor me. And who can force us to write the final point? That's what we thought, convinced that, like our hero, we are immortal.
Retirement came to Stephen by surprise on November 11, 2024. It was supposed to free him up to devote himself fully to his passion. No one had anticipated that it would remove him from our business for good. We will now have to go on without him, and every act accomplished to serve Holmesology and the SSHF will keep his memory alive. We will complete your encyclopedia, dear Stephen. We don't want to know that it is impossible, so we will do it.
Thierry Saint-Joanis, President of the SSHF
Almaseanu, victorious for eternity!
Stephen Almaseanu's erudition allowed him to shine in all the tests of Holmesian knowledge and victory was always his. To honor him, from now on, this first place will be reserved for him in each test and the participants will fight for the second place, because, if he could have played he would have won, it is elementary.
Stephen Almaseanu was a deputy general at the Paris Court of Appeal and a law professor at Ipesup for over thirty years.
Read the article published by Ipesup here .
Read another article about his career as a magistrate here .
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