It took the UCLA African Arts editorial board less than a minute to decide unanimously to dedicate a full issue of the journal to honoring Doran H. Ross and his expansive contributions to the field of African and African Diaspora arts and expressive culture (Fig. 1). To start, there is probably no one who has contributed more to African Arts than Doran. As Donald Cosentino, his former coeditor, writes in his First Word, Doran was an editor for nearly thirty years, from 1988 to 2015, and even more impressively, published more than fifty pieces over the course of his career. His first article was published in 1974, his first book review in 1975, and his first exhibition review in 1981. Later came many Portfolios, In Memoria, and First Words. Looking over his CV, there is hardly a year that went by from 1974–2000 where he did not publish something in these pages. In his final years, occupied with a number of larger book and other editorial projects, he wrote fewer articles for the journal but was called upon frequently to remember colleagues who had passed and then to make us all smile with his submissions to the new page: “African Art in Unusual Places” (Fig. 2). I'm not sure anyone can compete with Doran's record, and it seems fitting to start with a remembrance by the current executive editor and art director Leslie Ellen Jones:Doran was certainly a consummate editor. He honed these skills in various ways, dating to the lessons learned from Herbert (Skip) Cole's mark-ups of his term papers during graduate school and moving seamlessly afterward to his experience as content editor for the many multiauthored scholarly volumes the Fowler Museum published to accompany exhibitions (always ready with his pen to make notes in the margins). While serving on the African Arts editorial board he also was coeditor of Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture from 2002 to 2012, a position he was offered on the basis of his wide-ranging commitment to global textiles. Two of his major research interests focused on Ghanaian cloth, which reigned supreme in the panoply of arts associated with Akan royalty or Fante military companies. This dedication to textiles also led him to accept the invitation to coedit volume 1 (Africa) in The Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, a task he shared with Joanne B. Eicher, another foremost African textile specialist. She recalls collaborating on this project with him:Doran also played an early important role in the formation of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA). It was founded in 1981 and was an outgrowth of the Triennial Symposium on African Art, established in 1968 by the distinguished Atlanta-based Professor Richard A. Long. ACASA's first board and officers included the late Indiana University art historian Roy Sieber as president and the late UCLA art historian Arnold Rubin as secretary-treasurer, both serving from 1981 — 1984. At their urging, Doran joined its board in 1984 and was secretary-treasurer (1984–1986) and then president (1988–1989).ACASA was a much smaller, largely America-focused organization in those early years, and it assumed the organization of the Triennial Symposium as well as visual-art centered panels at annual African Studies Association meetings. Doran was an active and influential member of ACASA his entire career (Fig. 3), joining Arnold Rubin in hosting the 7th Triennial Symposium at UCLA in 1986 and serving as its program chair. He received the Arnold Rubin Outstanding Publication award in 2001 for Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity (1998). In 2011, when the 15th Triennial Symposium returned to UCLA, he again was program chair and, most deservedly, received the ACASA Leadership Award “in recognition of the recipient's excellence, innovative contributions, and vision in the fields of African and Diasporic Arts.”All of these are contexts in which Doran relished his role as mentor and teacher. His generosity was boundless in terms of offering support to students at all stages of their education or to scholars, whether young and newly minted or more senior. Many contributors to this issue reflect on Doran's impact on their careers or on the knowledge they gained working closely with him on specific projects. Certainly, his twenty years at UCLA were filled with students, some of whom worked for him as research or curatorial assistants or others who turned to him for advice. As a university museum, the Fowler has been, since its inception, a key part of campus life. Doran emphasized this connection in an essay he wrote about “The Meaning of a Museum” in UCLA's monthly magazine:In the final few years of his tenure, Doran oversaw a year-long “Introduction to Museology” sequence, which he conceived following on an undergraduate course taught for many years by his predecessor, Director Christopher Donnan.3 The new course was team taught by Fowler and Hammer Museum staffs, including Doran and other museum professionals. The first quarter was a general introduction to a range of topics, including the history of museums, collection management and registration, fundraising and development, publication production, and security concerns. In the second quarter the topics became more focused and emphasized curatorial issues, exhibition development, education and interpretation, and visitor studies. Students were expected to come up with a fully formed plan for an exhibition, accompanying publication, and public programs. The third quarter was structured more like an independent study, and students worked closely on a project with him and another museum staff member. Doran believed the Fowler should be a training ground for young museum professionals, amplifying the pipeline of students who were sensitive to issues of representation and inclusivity in the presentation of global arts.It seems only fitting to begin this issue with two First Word remembrances of Doran Ross written by individuals with whom Doran had close friendships that blurred the boundaries between the professional and the personal in the best ways possible. Donald Cosentino reflects on what was one of the most storied of Fowler exhibitions—Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou—and how Doran's unbridled tenacity and fierce devotion to its importance safeguarded its realization. Rowland Abiodun offers a Yorùbá praise poem or oriki he wrote just for the “elephant-in-chief” that celebrates the man and his love of Akan proverbial wisdom (Fig. 4).Following these recollections, the issue is structured around Doran's major professional endeavors and impacts on the field of African and African Diaspora studies. We invited his colleagues to write about the nature, extent, and quality of his contributions; naturally, they too, also draw on their personal experiences working with him. We start with the earliest observations by his two academic mentors, Raphael Reichert and Herbert M. Cole, who were his teachers in the classroom as well as colleagues in the field. Next, three fellow specialists of Ghanaian arts write about Doran's acclaimed scholarship, focusing first on his Akan studies in a lively conversation between Nii Quarcoopome and Ray Silverman and then his career-long research on Fante asafo companies by Silvia Forni, who did fieldwork with him in Ghana. We also asked Forni to write about his long relationship with Kumasi-based sign painter Kwame Akoto (a.k.a. Almighty God), which was an equally important aspect of Doran's Ghanaian pursuits.The largest section of this tribute is devoted to his twenty-year tenure at the Fowler Museum (1981–2001), during which Doran's innumerable accomplishments and initiatives far surpass any attempt to encapsulate them all here (Fig. 5). It begins with an overview written by Marla C. Berns, who succeeded him as Fowler director and had close ties with both Doran and the museum since 1978. This essay also draws on the perspectives of several staff with whom he worked. To enrich and enliven this summary, we also invited several of his colleagues to write about their experiences collaborating on specific exhibition projects (Mary Jo Arnoldi and Christine Mullen Kreamer, Henry John Drewal, Ernie Wolfe III, Philip M. Peek and Martha G. Anderson, and Allen F. Roberts). Former Director of Education and Curatorial Affairs Betsy D. Quick's signature article on Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity spotlights what is inarguably Doran's most significant Fowler endeavor, drawing on twenty-five years of research, an ambitious and groundbreaking program of community outreach, and a national tour that included nine major museums and thirty-three smaller museums and community centers across some twenty states.We also invited Elisabeth Cameron, a former UCLA art history graduate student (working with the late Professor Arnold Rubin) whose engagement with the Fowler dates to 1985, to write about Doran as a mentor and to call on a few other African art scholars —Christa Clark, Courtnay Micots, and Scott Edmonson—to offer their comments on how he influenced their thinking and careers. This is followed by an overview by Corinne A. Kratz on another of Doran's key mentorship roles: working with colleagues and institutions across Africa in an effort to encourage training opportunities and to help strengthen their programing. A focused essay by Rachel Hoffman, another UCLA art history graduate student who came to work with Rubin, addresses the opportunity Doran gave her to participate in the four-year Joint Textile Collecting Initiative between the Fowler and the National Museum of Mali (1987–1990). Her essay testifies to Doran's support of UCLA students and as well as the significance of a highly progressive partnership with an African museum.The issue's epilogue offers a moving tribute by coeditor Betsy D. Quick, who had a forty-four-year friendship with Doran. She offers us her penetrating insights and fond memories of a “Renaissance man” who was transcendent for his intelligence, vision, leadership, and warmth. As she and so many others of us write in our essays, Doran is remembered with affection and already missed greatly.And lastly, the issue closes as it opens, with a poetic remembrance, this one by Megan Miranda-Nevels, Betsy's younger daughter who also worked as Doran's research assistant for a couple of years after he retired. His ebullient humor combined with his ever-growing love of stuff, fondness for storytelling, generous heart, and attention to detail awakened her poet's eye.As coeditors we offer our heartfelt thanks to all of the colleagues and friends who contributed to this issue. Their observations on Doran's life and career are poignant, frequently hilarious, and tell us a great deal about Doran the person and Doran the scholar. The photographs authors supplied are also invaluable additions. We only wish we had enough space to accommodate everyone's thoughts and stories—not surprisingly, they could have filled a lengthy tome. We also recognize Leslie Ellen Jones, David Mayo, Joanne Eicher, and Henrietta Cosentino for their additional insights, which they offered graciously and on short notice. Thanks also to those who lent photographs—images of Doran in Africa, at the Fowler in informal contexts, of his home, and more, are vital additions to this issue (Figs. 6–7). We are indebted to all of the authors as well as Lynne B. Clark, Christraud M. Geary and the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Fran Krystock, David Mayo, and Megan Miranda-Nevels for their memorable images. Ray Silverman also volunteered his help with preparing a number of digital images for publication. The Getty Research Institute staff, most especially Kathleen Salomon, Tracey Schuster, and Lora Chin Derrien, also deserves our immense gratitude. During such a difficult year, they managed the transfer of Doran's extensive library and archives to their facilities and then lent slides back to us for this publication. Gassia Armenian, the Fowler's curatorial and research associate, provided research support and supplied us with existing digital images and scanned many more that we sourced from the museum's publication and exhibition installation archives. Fowler photographer Don Cole also helped by shooting selected museum objects and scanning snapshots. Rachel Raynor, director of registration and collections management, answered many questions we had about the collections the museum accessioned during Doran's tenure. Also, Jeanette Saunders, registrar, and Isabella Kelly-Ramirez, collections manager, provided valuable assistance. We thank them all for their generosity and time, and recognize the Fowler Museum for its crucial support and cooperation. Finally, Leslie Ellen Jones, executive editor and art director, has been tireless with her guidance and attention for which we are hugely indebted; we also acknowledge the other UCLA consortium editors for their endorsement and enthusiasm.It has been both an honor and a pleasure to have worked together on this project, and we hope it offers readers a rich and rewarding account of a great scholar, curator, mentor, and friend (Fig. 8).