It is with great sadness that we report the death of our good friend and colleague Jan Zima, who died on 26th March 2019. He had been ill for some time.

Jan, known as Honza to his friends, was one of the editors of the first Atlas of European Mammals, published in 1999 and joined enthusiastically with our new project to prepare a second edition. He was present at our meetings in Rome and Prague and just last week had submitted a species account for Sorex araneus, which we will use as a model for our new atlas.

Jan was one of the most accomplished mammalogists in Europe, with a publication list of about 200 papers in international journals as well as many monographs, books and book chapters. This year, along with Jeremy Searle and David Polly, he published the multi-author book Shrews, Chromosomes and Speciation, a subject in which he had long been interested.

As well as being an outstanding researcher in both field and laboratory, Jan was also a gifted and experienced administrator and an important figure in the organisation of vertebrate research in the Czech Republic. He had a long association with the Institute of Vertebrate Biology in Brno, where he was Deputy Director, he was a Member of the Academy Council of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and he was also a member of the scientific councils of 7 universities and 4 research institutes. Truly a key figure in Czech science.

Our thoughts are with his wife and family at this sad time.