Last June, Alfred van Geest, well known for his website Digicodes (Digital Image Collection of Desmids) unexpectedly died of a heart attack. Alfred made beautiful pictures of hundreds of desmid species, not only from Europe but also from northern America and Africa. So, his site was frequently visited by every microscopist interested in this group of algae. As an active and valued member of the Dutch Desmid Working group he contributed a lot to the development of desmidiology in the Netherlands.