Dr. Fritz Melchers, an internationally renowned immunologist who made significant contributions to IFReC since its establishment, has passed away on February 24. We have received a memorial message from Dr. Tadamitsu Kishimoto, a longtime friend of Dr. Melchers.
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At the end of February 2025, I was stunned to hear from a friend at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin that Fritz Melchers had passed away. We had been close friends since 1980, and we shared a deep research interest in the field of B lymphocyte immunology.

During the 1980s and 1990s, I often traveled to Europe and always made a point of visiting the Basel Institute for Immunology. Fritz served as the director of that institute for 20 years, from 1980 until its closure in 2000, making significant contributions both to the institute's development and to the advancement of immunology as a whole. Many my colleagues conducted their research there.

Another colleague and fellow B lymphocyte researcher, Dr. William E Paul of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, passed away ten years ago. I recall how, at an International Congress of Immunology in the 1980s, Fritz, William, and I discussed proposing the names BSF-1, BSF-2, and so on for the molecules that activate B lymphocytes.

Fritz also supported the Japanese Society for Immunology and provided travel grants through the Melchers Travel Award, enabling young Japanese researchers to study abroad. Both Fritz and Bill were three years my senior, and I never imagined I would lose them both.

While it is natural for life to come to a close in one's late eighties, as someone of the same generation, I feel an indescribable sense of sadness at their passing. Yet their outstanding contributions to immunology, especially in the field of B lymphocyte research, will live on for generations to come. Even after their passing, their scientific achievements will undoubtedly remain in immunology textbooks.