diff --git a/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBuffer.java b/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBuffer.java
index 9f0d9a451c0..e6b3994235d 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBuffer.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBuffer.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
  *
- *  Copyright (c) 2019-2020, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+ *  Copyright (c) 2019-2022, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
  *
  *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -28,6 +28,23 @@
  * subclassing beyond what is included in CUDF is not recommended and not supported.
  */
 abstract public class MemoryBuffer implements AutoCloseable {
+  /**
+   * Interface to handle events for this MemoryBuffer. Only invoked during
+   * close, hence `onClosed` is the only event.
+   */
+  public interface EventHandler {
+    /**
+     * `onClosed` is invoked with the updated `refCount` during `close`.
+     * The last invocation of `onClosed` will be with `refCount=0`.
+     *
+     * @note the callback is invoked with this `MemoryBuffer`'s lock held.
+     *
+     * @param refCount - the updated ref count for this MemoryBuffer at the time
+     *                 of invocation
+     */
+    void onClosed(int refCount);
+  }
+
   private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(MemoryBuffer.class);
   protected final long address;
   protected final long length;
@@ -36,6 +53,8 @@ abstract public class MemoryBuffer implements AutoCloseable {
   protected final MemoryBufferCleaner cleaner;
   protected final long id;
 
+  private EventHandler eventHandler;
+
   public static abstract class MemoryBufferCleaner extends MemoryCleaner.Cleaner{}
 
   private static final class SlicedBufferCleaner extends MemoryBufferCleaner {
@@ -193,6 +212,27 @@ public final void copyFromMemoryBufferAsync(
    */
   public abstract MemoryBuffer slice(long offset, long len);
 
+  /**
+   * Set an event handler for this buffer. This method can be invoked with null
+   * to unset the handler.
+   *
+   * @param newHandler - the EventHandler to use from this point forward
+   * @return the prior event handler, or null if not set.
+   */
+  public synchronized EventHandler setEventHandler(EventHandler newHandler) {
+    EventHandler prev = this.eventHandler;
+    this.eventHandler = newHandler;
+    return prev;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the current event handler for this buffer or null if no handler
+   * is associated or this buffer is closed.
+   */
+  public synchronized EventHandler getEventHandler() {
+    return this.eventHandler;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Close this buffer and free memory
    */
@@ -200,6 +240,9 @@ public synchronized void close() {
     if (cleaner != null) {
       refCount--;
       cleaner.delRef();
+      if (eventHandler != null) {
+        eventHandler.onClosed(refCount);
+      }
       if (refCount == 0) {
         cleaner.clean(false);
         closed = true;
@@ -232,8 +275,10 @@ public synchronized void incRefCount() {
     cleaner.addRef();
   }
 
-  // visible for testing
-  synchronized int getRefCount() {
+  /**
+   * Get the current reference count for this buffer.
+   */
+  public synchronized int getRefCount() {
     return refCount;
   }
 }
diff --git a/java/src/test/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBufferTest.java b/java/src/test/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBufferTest.java
index df710c71f63..c332ce660d1 100644
--- a/java/src/test/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBufferTest.java
+++ b/java/src/test/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBufferTest.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
  *
- *  Copyright (c) 2021, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+ *  Copyright (c) 2021-2022, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
  *
  *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
+
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 
 public class MemoryBufferTest extends CudfTestBase {
@@ -168,4 +170,49 @@ private void verifyOutput(HostMemoryBuffer out) {
     out.getBytes(bytes, 0, 0, 16);
     assertArrayEquals(EXPECTED, bytes);
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testEventHandlerIsCalledForEachClose() {
+    final AtomicInteger onClosedWasCalled = new AtomicInteger(0);
+    try (DeviceMemoryBuffer b = DeviceMemoryBuffer.allocate(256)) {
+      b.setEventHandler(refCount -> onClosedWasCalled.incrementAndGet());
+    }
+    assertEquals(1, onClosedWasCalled.get());
+    onClosedWasCalled.set(0);
+
+    try (DeviceMemoryBuffer b = DeviceMemoryBuffer.allocate(256)) {
+      b.setEventHandler(refCount -> onClosedWasCalled.incrementAndGet());
+      DeviceMemoryBuffer sliced = b.slice(0, b.getLength());
+      sliced.close();
+    }
+    assertEquals(2, onClosedWasCalled.get());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testEventHandlerIsNotCalledIfNotSet() {
+    final AtomicInteger onClosedWasCalled = new AtomicInteger(0);
+    try (DeviceMemoryBuffer b = DeviceMemoryBuffer.allocate(256)) {
+      assertNull(b.getEventHandler());
+    }
+    assertEquals(0, onClosedWasCalled.get());
+    try (DeviceMemoryBuffer b = DeviceMemoryBuffer.allocate(256)) {
+      b.setEventHandler(refCount -> onClosedWasCalled.incrementAndGet());
+      b.setEventHandler(null);
+    }
+    assertEquals(0, onClosedWasCalled.get());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testEventHandlerReturnsPreviousHandlerOnReset() {
+    try (DeviceMemoryBuffer b = DeviceMemoryBuffer.allocate(256)) {
+      MemoryBuffer.EventHandler handler = refCount -> {};
+      MemoryBuffer.EventHandler handler2 = refCount -> {};
+
+      assertNull(b.setEventHandler(handler));
+      assertEquals(handler, b.setEventHandler(null));
+
+      assertNull(b.setEventHandler(handler2));
+      assertEquals(handler2, b.setEventHandler(handler));
+    }
+  }
 }