It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Jack D. Ives on 15 September 2024, one month before his 93rd birthday. Jack cofounded the International Mountain Society in 1980 and established Mountain Research and Development in 1981, with strong support from his beloved wife, Pauline Ives. Jack served as MRD’s Editor-in-Chief for its first two decades, through 1999.
Jack’s dedication and legacy cannot be understated. Throughout his career, he passionately studied and advocated for mountains and mountain communities. His most influential publications include The Himalayan Dilemma (Routledge, 1989) and Mountains of the World: A Global Priority (Parthenon, 1997), both coauthored/coedited with his close friend and colleague Bruno Messerli.
Jack was not only an exceptional scholar but also a gifted networker. Galvanizing like-minded colleagues, he was a driving force in getting mountains onto the global sustainable development agenda. The group’s collective efforts led to the inclusion of Chapter 13 in Agenda 21 at the 1992 World Summit in Rio and, later, the designation of the International Year of Mountains 2002 and International Mountain Day.
Jack’s outstanding contributions to sustainable development in mountain regions across the world were recognized with various awards, among them the King Albert Mountain Award (2002, together with Bruno Messerli) and the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal (2015).
In honor of Jack and his lifetime achievements for the world’s mountains and mountain communities, we would like to close with a quote from his last editorial for MRD and express our deep gratitude on behalf of all those whose lives he influenced with his work: “Hundreds of friends—scholars, development officers, NGO staff, mountain farmers, women and men—have made these two decades of mountain editorial effort a privilege and one of the most uplifting experiences of my life.”
MRD Editorial Office, October 2024
Jack’s life and work will be commemorated more fully in the upcoming issue of MRD.
