We are very sorry to hear about the loss of one of our Sansuikai teachers, Alain Salée, 7th dan Aikikai, chief instructor of Aikikai Verviers, Santan Ryu. He died age 79.
We met Alain many years ago at the yearly summer camp in La Colle-sur-Loup in France, to which he went many times to study aikido with Tamura sensei and Yamada sensei.
Alain was one of the aikido pioneers in Belgium and one of the longest active aikido practitioners in Belgium. He started practicing Judo back in 1952. We’re not entirely sure about when he started aikido but probably that was around 1960. He studied with Noro sensei, Tamura sensei, Yamada Sensei, Sugano sensei and Asai Sensei, among others and taught aikido in Verviers in Belgium.
As a profession he was a policeman. Once retired, he build a new dojo in Verviers and continued to teach aikido there until his death in 2018. He was a respected example of an aikido practitioner dedicating his life to studying and teaching Aikido.
You can read an interview with him in the Aikido Journal (French version) from 2005.
Rest in peace, Alain.