TRIBUTE: In Memoriam, Jeheskel"Hezy " Shoshani

The elephant community has lost one of its great ambassadors, Dr. jeheskel "Hezy " Shoshani, at the age of 65. A wave of condolences and testimonials from colleagues and friends around the world followed his death on May 21,2008. Dr. Shoshani died from injuries suffered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when a bomb destroyed the public minibus in which he was traveling. Dr. Shoshani had taught at the University of Addis Ababa since 2007, after teaching for 9 years at the University of Asmara in Eritrea. It is cruelly ironic that he moved from Eritrea to Addis Ababa, in parr, because he considered the Eritrea-Ethiopia border region too dangerous (Ilani, 2008a). Dr. Shoshani was a U.S. citizen born in what is now Tel Aviv, Israel. Prior to moving to the Horn of Mrica, he taught at Wayne State University in Michigan for about 25 years. Among his numerous publications, Dr. Shoshani edited both an imposing professional volume entitled The Proboscidea (Shoshani and Tassy, 1993) and a "coffee-table " book entitled Elephants: Majestic Creatures of the Wild intended for a general audience that was both current and scientifically accurate (Shoshani, 1992). He founded the Elephant Research Foundation, initially called the Elephant Interest Group, in June 1977, and edited its official publication, Elephant. He is survived by his spouse and colleague, Sandra Lash Shoshani