RNP mourns the loss of its founder, Tadao Takahashi
Executive Board of the National Education and Research Network (RNP):
"All of us at RNP are saddened, dismayed, with the news of the sudden death of Tadao Takahashi, our founder and the first director of the Brazilian academic network between 1989 and 1996.
Tadao was the creator of the then CNPq research project that brought together government, academia and companies in the construction of the Internet in Brazil. He led this enormous challenge with energy and great success, thanks to his great capacity for strategic planning, institutional articulation, creativity, perseverance and intelligence.
The training of human resources in strategic topics, especially in education and research, the construction of public policies for the Information Society and the expansion of Internet services for society are among its main legacies for Brazil and Latin America.
We feel privileged to have lived with him on this journey. We will miss him and thank him for his life."
Paulo Alvim, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovations (MCTI):
Renato Janine Ribeiro, President of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC):
"We received, with great regret, the news of the death of Prof. Tadao Takahashi, whose professional history is amalgamated with the creation and history of RNP, therefore representing a great loss for Brazilian science. We, from SBPC, come to offer our condolences and to bring our solidarity to Prof. Tadao's family, as well as to the entire staff of RNP".
Antonio Esio "Toné", ICT manager at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE):
"I would like to express the feelings of the entire INPE community due to the death of Prof. Tadao Takahashi. All our admiration and gratitude for all the work he did, especially the help to everyone who always sought him out".
Institutions related to the Internet also sympathized with the loss:
> Note from the Internet Society
> Note from the Internet Steering Committee in Brazil (CGI.Br)
> Note from the Nupef Institute
Obituary
On Wednesday night (4/6), we said goodbye to Eduardo Tadao Takahashi, founder of the National Education and Research Network (RNP) and first director of the Brazilian academic network, between 1989 and 1996. He died of cardiac complications and the wake will be held in Campinas (SP), the city where he lived.
From the beginning, Tadao Takahashi was instrumental in planning and implementing the Internet in Brazil. As founder and former director of the National Research Network of Brazil (RNP), Takahashi started one of the first academic networks in Brazil and was a driving force in the effort to coordinate with other national academic networks to establish a backbone that would eventually become the foundation of the Brazilian Internet.
While at RNP, Takahashi became an early proponent of an inclusive, bottom-up approach to network management/development when he forged one of the first multi-stakeholder Internet governance models. This model predates the renowned multistakeholder model employed by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
He was also the creator and president of the National Program for the Information Society of Brazil (SOCINFO), a national initiative to articulate and expand the strategic use of the Internet in Brazil in key application areas, including government, education and health.
It has also helped shape public policy on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiatives by the United Nations, European Commission and World Economic Forum, and continues to help use ICT to help Brazil's social and economic development.
He holds degrees in Computer Science (University of Campinas, Brazil), Social Communication (Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas, Brazil) and Informatics (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan).
Internet Hall of Fame
In 2017, Tadao Takahashi was the second Brazilian nominated by the Internet Society to integrate the Internet Hall of Fame, after the director-president of the Information and Coordination Center at Ponto BR (NIC.br), Demi Getshcko (2014).
Watch his nomination speech video: