Colleagues at the Chinese Chemical Letters express our deepest sadness over the passing of Professor James N. Seiber on June 3, 2023. It is a great loss not only for the American Chemical Society (ACS), but also the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS) and beyond. Professor Seiber was a renowned American environmental chemist and philanthropist. He pioneered in the field of environmental chemistry and made profound contributions to pesticide analysis which spurred the study of transport, fate and exposure of pesticides and toxicants.

James N. Seiber

Dr. Seiber earned his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at Utah State University after his B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry at Bellarmine College and Arizona State University, respectively. After being a research chemist at Dow Chemical Co., for three years, Dr. Seiber joined academia as a professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California (UC) at Davis from 1969 to 1992 and served as Associate Dean for Research for the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from 1986 to 1992. Dr. Seiber served as Director of the Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of Nevada at Reno from 1992 to 1998 and Director of the USDA Western Regional Research Center from 1998 to 2008. At the time of his passing, he was Professor Emeritus in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Toxicology.

Dr. Seiber published more than 280 research papers. Dr. Seiber had a distinguished career, and he was recognized as American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow (2010), American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow (2014), and winner of the Kenneth A. Spencer Award (2012), the U.S. Department of Agriculture Sterling B. Hendricks Memorial Lecture (2018), ACS International Award for Research in Agrochemicals (1999), ACS Agrochemicals Division Lifetime Achievement Award (2020), and many other awards.

Dr. Seiber tirelessly dedicated his service to the international chemical community. He made immense contributions to the advancement in agricultural and food chemistry in China. From 1998 to 2014 he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the ACS Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (JAFC). He published many editorials to introduce JAFC to the international science and technology communities and made special efforts to diversify and expand JAFC scope, editorial advisory committee, authorship, and readership. Professor Seiber took many trips to visit China and presented JAFC to Chinese students and scientists. Professor Xuhong Qian, Editor-in-Chief of this journal (Chinese Chemical Letters), President of East China Normal University, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, commented "I was invited to serve on the Editorial Board of JAFC and knew his great contribution to the journal as the former Editor-in-Chief. He visited East China University of Science and Technology to introduce JAFC and give many suggestions on university education and research, which was very helpful to us, at the time I served as President of that university." Since then, JAFC has become a major media where Chinese scientists publish their discoveries and innovations in agrochemicals and agriculture and food chemistry. Dr. Seiber was frequently invited to speak at events and helped organize conferences in China. His legacy is not only his scientific accomplishments but also his dedication to the international chemical community such as CCS. He had a fulfilling life enriched with passionate editorship, international engagement, and scientific collaboration.