The internationally renowned French psychiatrist Professor Yves Pélicier died after having had a distinguished university career, the pinnacle of which was being awarded the Eméritat de la Faculté de médecine Necker, de l"Université René Descartes, Paris V. His death came at a time at which he had begun to see the fruits of his labors that had led him to preside over the establishment of the first French medical ethics research university course. It is now internationally renowned. His last university lectures underlined what remains to be explored and encouraged the dignity of medicine's function to be upheld. These lectures also emphasized that the necessary qualities that make medicine great must be preserved throughout its subsequent development. These qualities, competence and the care of the human, are essential foundations of patient trust.