“Opening Greeting,” Prof. Emeritus Takushiro Ochiai

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TakushiroOchiai

Prof. Takushiro Ochiai
Chair of the Organizing Committee
Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo

 

 

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!

Thank you very much for gathering to this reception in memory of Professor Kobayashi.

I would like to say a few words on behalf of the Organizing Committee.

I think that everyone has his or her own unforgettable memory of Professor Kobayashi and heard with disbelief last summer the sad news of his sudden demise.

He was a person who had not only great mathematical achievements but also an earnest passion for mathematics, with a wonderful smile and broadmindedness that attracted everyone. He treated his colleagues and students alike with heart-to-heart relationships. To us, everything about him was what an ideal mathematician and educator should be like. Even today I feel as if he were sitting somewhere in this room, watching over us with a smile.

Today, we are delighted to have Mrs. Yukiko Kobayashi, their elder daughter Sumire, Prof. Kobayashi’s younger brother and other relatives. Mrs. Kobayashi: thank you for your effort to travel all the way from Berkeley. I hope that this evening will be filled with many pleasant memories we shared with Professor and Mrs. Kobayashi.

In closing, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Dean Tsuboi of the Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences and his staff who supported us so thoroughly behind the scenes in preparing both the memorial symposium and this reception. Thank you very much.