Hi, In the Russian culture it's traditional to formally remember a deceased family member, or friend, 40 days after the day of their passing. Today it's been 40 days since Vladimir Vassilevsky left this world. My memory of Vlad, as his friends called him, is that he was a highly skilled engineer. Over the years of exchanging signal processing ideas with Vlad I had the distinct impression that he knew more about signal processing than I did. That made our relationship beneficial to me. One thing was clear, he had far more practical signal processing implementation experience than I had. Vladimir had the original idea to have the 2010 Comp.dsp Conference in Kansas city. I helped him organize the conference but he and his wife Lena, by far, did the bulk of the work to make the conference a success. (Vladimir was NOT a lazy guy.) In addition to that Vlad and Lena graciously welcomed the conference attendees into their home for dinner the night before the conference started. In the evening of the first day of the conference Vlad arranged for the attendees to have dinner together in a private back room of a local Chinese restaurant. Vlad knew that the restaurant did not have a license to sell beer, but he did not let that stop him. Five minutes after we all sat down in our private room three 12-packs of Heineken beer were magically delivered to us through the back door of the restaurant. Ha ha. I could see that Vlad certainly was a "problem solving" kinda guy. Vladimir also had the good sense of humor--he told me one of my favorite adult jokes. Unless someone asks me, I won't repeat the joke here for fear of offending sensitive feminine ears. I'll miss Vladimir. "I remember those happy days and often wish I could speak into the ears of the dead the gratitude which was due to them in life and so ill-returned." --Gwyn Thomas [-Rick-]
In memoriam - Vladimir Vassilevsky
Started by ●July 25, 2015
Reply by ●July 25, 20152015-07-25
I pondered what to say about Vladimir. I think that something I already said about him in a post long ago is most appropriate: I don't think that I have ever seen an answer from him that was wrong. I never met him in person, but still I miss him. Peace to you and yours, Vladimir. Greg Berchin
Reply by ●July 25, 20152015-07-25
On Sat, 25 Jul 2015 02:41:28 -0700, Rick Lyons <R.Lyons@_BOGUS_ieee.org> wrote:> >Hi, > In the Russian culture it's traditional to formally >remember a deceased family member, or friend, 40 days >after the day of their passing. Today it's been 40 >days since Vladimir Vassilevsky left this world.Jerry Avins wrote the following in response to a note from Vlad's wife and asked that I forward it here: Lena, I knew Vladimir almost entirely as an internet correspondent, but that was more than enough to impress me with his broad knowledge and ability to innovate. His good nature -- and yours -- became very clear when Shen and I were guests in your home for a few days. His death leaves a void for many of us. I haven't been active on usenet lately, Perhaps Eric will "forward" my remarks. ______________ I'm just heading out the door and will write something when I get back. Cheers, Eric Eric Jacobsen Anchor Hill Communications http://www.anchorhill.com
Reply by ●July 25, 20152015-07-25
On Sat, 25 Jul 2015 02:41:28 -0700, Rick Lyons <R.Lyons@_BOGUS_ieee.org> wrote:> >Hi, > In the Russian culture it's traditional to formally >remember a deceased family member, or friend, 40 days >after the day of their passing. Today it's been 40 >days since Vladimir Vassilevsky left this world.First, I have to say that Vlad's passing has affected me more than I would have ever guessed. Gone way too soon, and he left behind an impressive family. If you judge a man by his family, Vladimir did a fine job. He and his wife were excellent hosts at the Kansas City conference, and made us feel welcome and at home. They really did make us feel like family. As others have said and is pretty well known here, his technical skills were very impressive. One thing that came through on comp.dsp was that he was a very confident engineer, and that enabled him to do some really impressive things. I'm still in awe of some of the projects he pulled off as a consultant. Some were the kind of thing that you'd expect a big team at a well-equipped company to take a few years to do, and he did it almost single-handedly from his house. You really can't argue with results like that. I like unique people and he was definitely that. I will miss him a lot. I wish he wasn't gone. Eric Jacobsen Anchor Hill Communications http://www.anchorhill.com
Reply by ●July 25, 20152015-07-25
Greg Berchin <gjberchin@chatter.net.invalid> wrote:> I pondered what to say about Vladimir. I think that something I already > said about him in a post long ago is most appropriate: I don't think > that I have ever seen an answer from him that was wrong.I didn't try counting, but I did always read his posts more carefully than others, figuring I would likely learn something.> I never met him in person, but still I miss him.I never did, either, but yes, I miss him, too.> Peace to you and yours, Vladimir.Peace. -- glen
Reply by ●July 25, 20152015-07-25
Rick Lyons <R.Lyons@_BOGUS_ieee.org> writes:> Hi, > In the Russian culture it's traditional to formally > remember a deceased family member, or friend, 40 days > after the day of their passing. Today it's been 40 > days since Vladimir Vassilevsky left this world. > [...]Dear comp.dsp friends, I regret that I missed the 2010 comp.dsp conference. However, now that Vlad is gone, I regret it much more. I have heard from several people how they learned at the conference that Vlad and Lena were very cordial and caring people. I wish I had taken the chance to get to know them, to have a beer, to talk politics, to talk DSP, to become "comrades." My loss. Here on the group, Vlad frequently made very sharp remarks. He was very often right. I can't think of an instance when he wasn't right. As several others have already stated, his expertise in DSP was beyond question. Thank you, Vlad, for teaching me, about DSP, about life, about how important time is, and about how important it is to clear the junk from my mind. I will miss you. -- Randy Yates Digital Signal Labs http://www.digitalsignallabs.com
Reply by ●July 25, 20152015-07-25
Like many others, my meeting Vlad personally was only for a short time back in 2010. However, he came across as incredibly personable. He and his wife, Lena, were wonderful hosts, and they had seen to every detail. Vlad told me directly he was very happy about people coming to his event as he wanted people to discuss technical things with. We all know you can't go down to the local market and find a DSP person to discuss an idea with. His projects were extremely involved and he spoke about two of them in the conference. He had a lot of pride in them as he should. They were will thought out. So after the conference there was no question about his technical abilities and being able to see right to a practical solution. Even many of his posts here were about just that kind of thing. Don't look for a zebra when a horse will do. Even his tone decoders were simplistically practical. His tips and insights will be missed. Clay
Reply by ●July 26, 20152015-07-26
On Saturday, July 25, 2015 at 9:41:35 PM UTC+12, Rick Lyons wrote:> Hi, > In the Russian culture it's traditional to formally > remember a deceased family member, or friend, 40 days > after the day of their passing. Today it's been 40 > days since Vladimir Vassilevsky left this world. > > My memory of Vlad, as his friends called him, is that > he was a highly skilled engineer. Over the years of > exchanging signal processing ideas with Vlad I had the > distinct impression that he knew more about signal > processing than I did. That made our relationship > beneficial to me. One thing was clear, he had far more > practical signal processing implementation experience > than I had. > > Vladimir had the original idea to have the 2010 Comp.dsp > Conference in Kansas city. I helped him organize the > conference but he and his wife Lena, by far, did the bulk > of the work to make the conference a success. (Vladimir > was NOT a lazy guy.) In addition to that Vlad and Lena > graciously welcomed the conference attendees into their > home for dinner the night before the conference started. > > In the evening of the first day of the conference Vlad > arranged for the attendees to have dinner together in a > private back room of a local Chinese restaurant. Vlad > knew that the restaurant did not have a license to sell > beer, but he did not let that stop him. Five minutes after > we all sat down in our private room three 12-packs of > Heineken beer were magically delivered to us through > the back door of the restaurant. Ha ha. I could see > that Vlad certainly was a "problem solving" kinda guy. > > Vladimir also had the good sense of humor--he told me > one of my favorite adult jokes. Unless someone asks me, > I won't repeat the joke here for fear of offending > sensitive feminine ears. > > I'll miss Vladimir. > > "I remember those happy days and often wish I could > speak into the ears of the dead the gratitude which > was due to them in life and so ill-returned." > --Gwyn Thomas > > [-Rick-]Was that the guy who used to reply Stupindo to every question? Or am I mixing him up with somebody else?
Reply by ●July 26, 20152015-07-26
Vladimir's wife asked me to post this for her: Gentlemen, Thank you for sharing your thoughts about Vlad. It is nice to know that he is missed and remembered here too. He spent many happy hours writing and arguing about dsp, and I am sure sometimes got more personal then the topic warranted. Lena Vassilevsky Eric Jacobsen Anchor Hill Communications http://www.anchorhill.com
Reply by ●July 26, 20152015-07-26
Like, Rick, I also had the opportunity to work with Vlad and Lena on the 2010 comp.dsp conference, so I got to knew them a little before the conference. Vlad and Lena were great hosts. They made everyone feel very welcomed. We all know that Vlad was a complicated guy. He could be coarse and he could be brilliant, often at the same time. He was one of us. I think that all the comp.dsp'rs will miss him. I certainly do. Al Clark