In memoriam Professor Dr. Novica Ranđelović (1937-2023)

Abstract

Novica Ranđelović was born on September 15, 1937, in Toplički Kočan, in the municipality of Doljevac near Niš. At the beginning of his career, Professor Ranđelović worked as a Biology and Chemistry teacher in primary school. After completing his master's degree, in 1975, he was appointed as an assistant at the Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics in Priština. After obtaining his doctoral degree, he was promoted to the position of associate professor in the subject of Botany with Ecology. Professor Ranđelović took on the responsibility of Head of the Department of Biology with Ecology and taught lectures in General Microbiology at Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Niš from 2000 to his retirement. In the last decades of his life, Professor Novica Ranđelović became our leading expert on saffron, specifically the Crocus genus on the Balkan Peninsula. In his monograph on saffrons titled "The Genus Crocus L. in Serbia" from 1990, he introduced the public to a completely new species of saffron for science, Crocus rujanensis Randjel. & D. A. Hill. Subsequently, he, along with his collaborators, described two more new saffron species, C. jablanicensis Randjel. & V. Randjel. and C. danubiensis Kernd., Pasche, Randjel. & V. Randjel., while two new saffron species, C. novicii V. Randjel. & Miljković and C. randjeloviciorum Kernd., Pasche, Harpke & Raca, were dedicated to him by other authors. After numerous life achievements, especially in the field of science, Professor Novica Ranđelović passed away on January 27, 2023, in Kočani at the age of 86.