Abstract:On February 19, 2009, the travel behavior community lost a leading light when Ryuichi Kitamura passed away after a lengthy and spirited battle with cancer. Numerous tributes have appeared or will appear in other venues, including Richards (2009); Mahmassani (2009); Lam and Wong (2009); forthcoming special issues of Transportation, Transportation Research Part B, and Transportation  Letters; special sessions at the upcoming conferences of the International Association for Travel Behaviour Research (IATBR) and the Transportation Research Board; and on the UC Davis web site at  http://www.its.ucdavis.edu/?page_id=13784. So in terms of biographical facts I will here be very brief and mention only the following few highlights.