The Henri Poincaré Prize 2000 was awarded to Joel Lebowitz for his important contributions to various aspects of equilibrium and nonequilibrium statistical physics: stability of matter, correlation inequalities, phase transitions, and approach to equilibrium, to mention just a few. In addition to this he has set his deep knowledge of science and his tireless energy to the service of our community by running the bi-annual statistical mechanics meetings and the Journal of Statistical Physics. For many decades, Joel Lebowitz has been the soul of statistical mechanics.