She had been deeply involved in the Hipparcos mission, and, in particular she had been in charge of the ephemerides needed to observe Long Period Variables. For that task, she used to coordinate ground-based observations obtained by many different groups, including amateurs and professionals. She also developed innovative methods to predict the magnitudes of stars at the exact times they were observed by Hipparcos. After the satellite launch, she used to continuously update these ephemerides by incorporating recently acquired data. Thanks to her efforts Hipparcos delivered to the astronomical community more reliable astrometric data for AGB stars.

In 1977, she moved to Montpellier, in Southern France, where she initiated a group working on AGB stars. This group grew under her leadership, and had become an active and important center (GRAAL) at the time she left the direction in 1998. Within France she supported this field of research by organizing meetings between people dispersed among several different institutes and by weaving a network of scientists working on AGB stars. She also developed many international collaborations, in particular with the late Janet Mattei. Under her impulse, two international conferences on AGB stars were held in Montpellier, firstly in 1989 "From Miras to planetary nebulae: Which path for stellar evolution?", then in 1998 "Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars", the first I.A.U. Symposium entirely devoted to AGB stars, both very successful.

In the last years, she had invested her energy in building a data base on AGB stars, called ASTRID, with a structure inspired by biologists. She was caught prematurely by an heart attack, while in full activity on ASTRID. She was a very engaging person, open minded, and particularly helpful to young scientists. It is with a great emotion that her friends and collaborators learned her sudden departure.

Ana Gomez and Thibaut Le Bertre