It is with great regret that we announce that Dr. Kensaku Tamaki, Professor at Tokyo University and former InterRidge Chair, passed away suddenly on April 6 (Japan Time) at the age of 62, during his stay in New York.
Prof. Tamaki started his career at the Geological Survey of Japan, and made great contributions to the understanding of the backarc rift system around Japan. He served as a co-chief scientist on the ODP Leg 127 in the Japan Sea. After he moved to the Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo in 1986, he led several research cruises to world mid-ocean ridges. He coordinated the French-UK-Japan FUJI cruise (R/V Marion Defresne, 1997) to the Southwest Indian Ridge, which was known as an ideal multinational collaborative cruise under the umbrella of InterRidge. Kensaku served as a chair of InterRidge from 2000 to 2003 and was very involved in writing the current IR science plan "InterRidge - The Next Decade". He moved to the Frontier Research Center for Energy and Resources, University of Tokyo in 2004 and recently focused on hydrothermal vent and deposit exploration. He was a pioneering researcher of mid-ocean ridge processes and hydrothermal activity in Japan and had led the Japanese ridge research community for many years.
It is still hard to realise that we are denied his company forever. We shall always remember him, his gentle smile and his excellent contribution to the IR community.
Obituary received from Kyoko Okino, Japanese National Correspondent for InterRidge
