Remembering Joachim R. Frick on the tenth anniversary of his death

December 16, 2021, marked ten years since Joachim R. Frick’s death. Joachim was part of the SOEP for over 20 years and a deeply valued colleague.

Markus Grabka remembers:

I first met Joachim in December of 1992. I was being interviewed for a student assistant position at the DIW in Dahlem. At that time, the SOEP had just a handful of staff members, so everyone in the department was there for my interview with then SOEP director Gert Wagner. Joachim’s many questions about the skills I could bring to the SOEP and his interest in my work made an impression on me. This first impression was emblematic of the kind of person Joachim was: He had a sincere interest in the research work of others, but also in getting to know the person behind that work.

Joachim’s outgoing nature made it easy for him to strike up conversations and make connections in the research community. This quality was extremely valuable in his work at the SOEP. Joachim maintained numerous contacts with colleagues around the world, and he loved discussing research with them—sometimes over a good dinner and a glass of wine at the end of a conference day. These discussions could stretch late into the night, but they never stopped him from participating in the first conference session the next morning. Our colleague Tim Smeeding’s motto “work hard, play hard” described Joachim perfectly.

Joachim began his scientific career at the SOEP immediately after finishing his undergraduate degree, and he successfully completed both his doctorate and his habilitation while working at the SOEP. His main research interests were in housing, inequality, and mobility, but ultimately he explored the entire spectrum of SOEP topics in his work. He liked the approach of linking methodological and empirical research questions to strengthen both the services provided by the SOEP and its scientific reputation. Some of his many achievements were in further developing the imputation of partial unit non-response, in the generation of imputed rents, and in the use of Anogi to compare old SOEP samples with refresher samples.

Along with Gert Wagner and Jürgen Schupp, Joachim played a key role in SOEP’s success as a research-based infrastructure in the 1990s and 2000s. The division of labor among the three can be described in simplified terms as follows: Gert Wagner represented SOEP in its dealings with outside institutions, Jürgen Schupp maintained close contact with the fieldwork institute, and Joachim was responsible for internal operations, in particular data preparation.

Joachim was a scientist to the core. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the SOEP for a large part of his life. There were only a few events in his schedule outside of work that had top priority for him—his regular Doppelkopf card games (with two other colleagues who died much too young, Felix Büchel and Johannes Schwarze), his weekly soccer matches, and his annual hikes—and even these activities often involved colleagues from work. And of course, above all, his family was always very close to his heart. He would undoubtedly be proud to see his two daughters today and how much they have achieved in their careers.

I owe much to Joachim. He constantly challenged and encouraged me in my work as a student assistant and later as a doctoral student. Over the years, he offered me valuable advice and guidance—often during long walks around the duck pond at Gustav Mahler Park—and I continue to appreciate that advice to this day.  

Joachim fell seriously ill at the end of the 2000s. He fought against a disease that was stronger than him in the end. His death left a gap in the SOEP team, in the research community, and in the lives of those who knew him well. We continue to remember him fondly.

Markus M. Grabka

on behalf of the SOEP team