Edward (Ed) Stricker died at home on August 22, 2024, of kidney disease and Myelodysplastic syndrome. Ed was an internationally renowned and highly productive behavioral neuroscientist who published more than 270 research articles, reviews, and book chapters. His primary research program focused on mechanisms integrating behavioral control of salt and water intake with complementary physiological processes. His collaborative work further revealed essential features of central dopamine, oxytocin, and gut-brain signaling pathways in the control of eating and other motivated behaviors. Ed received both the prestigious Research Scientist Award and the MERIT Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, and his laboratory received continuous NIH funding for more than 30 years.

Ed was born in 1941 and raised in the neighborhood of Parkchester in the Bronx, New York, where he became an avid and lifelong Brooklyn Dodgers fan. He earned Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in chemistry from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in psychology from Yale University. After initial faculty positions at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Ed joined the University of Pittsburgh in 1971 as an associate professor of psychology and biological sciences, becoming a full professor in 1976. Ed was named Distinguished University Professor of Neuroscience in 1986, the same year that he founded the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience (now the Dept. of Neuroscience) in the School of Arts and Sciences. Ed also served as Dean of the Honors College at Pitt for several years after closing his research laboratory. His impressive career accomplishments and his positive, wide-reaching impact on students and colleagues were acknowledged in a special tribute from the University of Pittsburgh ( https://www.utimes.pitt.edu/passings ).

As others have pointed out, resumé virtues are distinct from eulogy virtues. I'd like to eulogize Ed by highlighting the personal qualities that made him such a strong and effective leader: his high principles, strong convictions, and clarity of vision for the future. As a department chair, Ed was dedicated to the professional development and success of junior colleagues - he always had time to talk, or at least he always made the time. He was an award-winning teacher with high expectations for his students, and he considered his role as an educator to take priority over his role as a scientist. He also was an excellent writer and a highly efficient editor, returning draft manuscripts with pages of detailed comments on content, style and grammar that invariably improved the final product.

Beginning in 1986, Ed served two consecutive terms as President of the International Congress on the Physiology of Food and Fluid Intake (ICPFFI), a scientific antecedent of SSIB. Ed was actively involved in the development of SSIB as an organization, serving as a member of our first board of directors when the society became incorporated (1987) and when we held our first research conference (1992). Until the end of his career, Ed and his research trainees rarely missed an annual meeting. Many of us within the society knew Ed as a teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend. He considered SSIB to be his "scientific home", and he was immensely honored to receive the SSIB Distinguished Career Award in 2015.

Ed is survived by his second wife of nearly 16 years, Myriam, and her children Alyssa, Nicole, and their spouses. He is also survived by his former wife of 42 years, Marcy Bloom, and their children Judd, Emily, and their spouses; his siblings George, Carol, and their spouses; and one grandson.