It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Alberto Mendelzon on June 16, 2005 after a two-year battle with cancer. Alberto was a great intellect, a charming friend, and an inspirational mentor. The citation for his recent election into the Royal Society of Canada (the Canadian National Academy) gives a glimpse into his intellectual legacy, but says nothing of the great man who will be sorely missed. His passing leaves a hole in our community and in our hearts.
RSC Citation Alberto Mendelzon is an international leader in database theory and the preeminent Canadian researcher in data management. His pioneering work on database dependencies has been influential in both the theory and practice of data management. His work has inspired numerous applications in database design, query processing, and data integration. He has made fundamental contributions in the areas of graphical and visual query languages, knowledge-base systems, and online analytic processing. His work has provided the foundation for languages used to query and exchange web data.