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The International Collaborative Group on Hereditary NonPolyposis Colorectal Cancer (ICG-HNPCC) is 14 years old. It was conceived in Jerusalem in August 1989 during the 2nd International Conference on Gastrointestinal Cancer organized by Paul Rozen. During this meeting, Giuseppe Cristofaro of Brindisi, Italy, proposed to Henry T. Lynch (Figure 1) that they should form a group of interested colleagues throughout the world to study HNPCC and to form multiple collaborations in the interest of investigating the genetic, clinical and pathologic aspects of the disease. Henry T. Lynch, Jane Lynch, Patrick Lynch, Jukka-Pekka Mecklin, Giuseppe Cristofaro, Jim St. John and Hans Vasen then met informally and agreed that this idea was quite logical given the growing interest in HNPCC. We reasoned that the syndrome’s genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity would require the study of large numbers of families with detailed pedigrees. These studies would involve meticulous clinical histories, molecular genetics, pathology, surveillance, and management concerns, as well as genetic counseling, in order to grasp a better understanding of the disorder and, most importantly, to benefit the high risk patients and families. Further discussion and announcement about the establishment of the ICG-HNPCC took place in November 1989 at a plenary session of an International Meeting on Colorectal Cancer sponsored by Joji Utsunomiya in Kobe, Japan (see Figure 2).