The physics of heavy flavors is a very active area of research in experimental and theoretical high energy physics. A number of heavy flavor experiments at new or upgraded accelerators are just coming on line to address some of the most fundamental questions of particle physics, e.g. matter-anti-matter asymmetry (CP violation).The Seventh International Symposium on Heavy Flavor Physics focused primarily on the physics of bottom and charmed quarks, but there were also sessions on the top quark and the tau lepton. It presented a great opportunity to take stock of the field on the eve of the new era in heavy flavor physics which will be opened up by the next generation of experiments.

The 28th conference from the Rochester series was the major high energy physics conference in 1996. Volume one contains short reports on new theoretical and experimental results. Volume two consists of the review talks presented in the plenary sessions.