Dear Members and Friends of SDS: It is with a heavy heart that I write to acknowledge the unexpected and untimely passing of our dear friend and colleague, Mark Bookman, who was recently elected and serving as Secretary of the Board of Directors for our organization. Mark earned his BA from Villanova University in 2014 - graduating as valedictorian of his class, spent the 2014-15 academic year at the prestigious University of Tokyo as a Fulbright Scholar, and then went on to earn his MA and PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from The University of Pennsylvania. Mark’s 2021 dissertation Politics and Prosthetics: 150 Years of Disability in Japan launched his career as a historian of Japanese disability policy and social activism. He resided in Japan and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institutes for Advanced Study at University of Tokyo, where he was developing a project titled “Barrier-Free Japan: Local Innovations, Global Transformations.” Mark was an astonishingly productive scholar, already having 11 peer-reviewed publications to his name, despite only being one year removed from his graduate studies. In addition, his first monograph, “Disability Publics: Making Accessibility in Modern Japan,” had just been accepted for publication at Oxford University Press. Mark also had bylines in popular press outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Japan Times. Even more important than his impressive professional accomplishments, Mark was a beloved colleague to many of us. While we only had the opportunity to work with him since August when he began his tenure on SDS’ Board of Directors, I know that I am not alone in appreciating his calming presence and thoughtful deliberations in our meetings. He left his mark on this board very quickly and he will be sorely missed. SDS intends to hold a virtual memorial for Mark in the coming weeks, so those of us in the Disability Studies community who knew and loved him can come together to grieve his passing and honor his memory. Details of the event will be forthcoming and we will, of course, in Mark’s own words, continue his work of striving to “bring a broader audience into communication about the nature and meaning of disability in both local and global contexts.” Yours, Joe Stramondo President, Board of Directors Society for Disability Studies admin@disstudies.org [Website <https://disstudies.org/>] [Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/SocietyforDisabilityStudies/>]