On February 22, 2010, Prof. Ebrahim H. Mamdani who devised Mamdani fuzzy inference has passed away. His work in fuzzy inference, which rapidly paved the way to its practical use, helped disseminate Prof. Lotfi Zadeh's fuzzy logic and the development of fuzzy research.

Prof. Mamdani's two papers on fuzzy inference – “Application of fuzzy algorithms for control of simple dynamic plant” (Proc. IEE, Vol.121, No. 12, pp. 1585-1588, 1974) and “An experiment in linguistic synthesis with a fuzzy logic controller” (Int. J. of Man-Machine Studies, Vol.7, No.1, pp. 1-13, 1975) with S. Assilian – enabled fuzzy inference technology to develop dramatically both indicatively and indirectly to where it has been applied, including fuzzy control systems.

This special issue honors Prof. Mamdani for his invaluable efforts in these and many other fields. We have asked for submissions by researchers influenced by Prof. Mamdani's achievements, including his work in fuzzy inference, and have narrowed down to one review and seven full papers. The review by Hirosato Seki and Kai Meng Tay provides an incisive overview on the many aspects of fuzzy inference that Prof. Mamdani brought to light.

Prof. Mamdani's fuzzy inference has become a deterministic technology that can be chosen naturally and that will continue to be influential and survivable well into the future.