In honor of our colleague Professor Koh-Ichiro Morita who passed away May 7, we held a memorial ceremony at the Santiago Central Office (SCO) of the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) on May 14. The ceremony was shared by a total of 80 people including JAO staff and Chile-based staff from Japan, North America, and Europe, as well as by those at the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF) connected with the SCO via teleconference system. At the ceremony, which was led and hosted by Thijs de Graauw (JAO Director), Tetsuo Hasegawa (NAOJ Chile Observatory Director) expressed his condolences by paying tribute to the achievements and contributions made by Koh-Ichiro Morita, and then, Ravinder Bhatia (JAO Project System Engineer), Kouichiro Nakanishi (JAO CSV Scientist), and Nick Whyborn (JAO Array System Group manager) offered messages of condolences. Koh-Ichiro’s wife expressed her appreciation by reading a message in remembrance of her beloved husband. From the OSF, his colleague and friend Joaquin Collao (NAOJ Site Manager) extended his heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved family. After the ceremony, the family talked with attendees at the hall of the SCO.

Earlier on May 12, we held a ceremony to say goodbye to Koh-Ichiro Morita at a mortuary in Santiago where his body was placed. This ceremony was attended by several dozens of people including His Excellency Hidenori Murakami (the Japanese ambassador to Chile), Thijs de Graauw (JAO Director) and his wife, Lewis Ball (JAO Deputy Director), other JAO staff, and people from local companies, NAOJ, and others.

The picture shows the memorial ceremony held at the Santiago Central Office.