Masao Ito (90), the First President of the Japan Neuroscience Society (JNS) peacefully passed away on December 18, 2018. He was a great neuroscientist who made a large number of original findings on the functions of the cerebellar circuits. At the same time, he made a great contribution to development of not only the brain sciences but also academia in general both domestically and globally. He played a key role in establishment of the Japan Neuroscience Association, the predecessor of JNS, in 1974. Since then, he had been working as the secretary General of the Japan Neuroscience Association until 1983, and as the president of the newly founded JNS until 1998. He had been assigned as a professor of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo and its dean, and President of the Japan Science Council. He also contributed to foundation of the RFIKEN Brain Science Institute and worked as its founding director. He was also engaged in establishment of Human Frontier Science Program Organization. We are deeply saddened by the loss of our esteemed mentor and celebrated, prominent neuroscience researcher with the greatest achievements. He will be truly missed. We extend our most sincere condolences.

The Japan Neuroscience Society