[CPM-SPIRE-L] the ultimate Raconteur

Tue Aug 4 09:19:08 PDT 2015

Dear Friends,

It was a sad day for me when I heard that Alberto, the Alberto we all
respected, enjoyed and looked forward to spending time with, is not with us
anymore. Alberto enjoyed people and was fun to be with. However, for me it
was his deep respect and care for the many people he encountered that
impressed me most.

My academic career began with a joint paper with Alberto and I was still
discussing joint research with him not long ago. Of course, with Alberto
life went well beyond research. I have so many fond memories from our many
encounters and discussions in so many different places. So, I was grateful
that one time I had the chance to give back a bit and this is the story.

In one of the Israel Stringology workshops that I co-organized with Ami,
Gadi and Ely I found myself in charge of the day trip. Ami and Gadi were
both checking out the possibility of rector positions in their respective
universities and could not join the trip. Ely, likewise, was busy. So, I
decided that the desert/dead sea would be a great trip. Alberto joined but
he was already not feeling well. So, when we all descended from the bus to
hike in the desert (which included some climbing) he decided not to join. I
felt bad. However, the next two stops were exactly to his taste. He was
very taken with the historic guide on top of Masada and he fully used the
time floating in the dead-sea water pool in the hotel on the dead-sea
beach. Finally, at dinner he was glowing again and graciously thanking me
for "this most wonderful day".  He explained that "unlike sailing, the
virtue of the dead-sea water is that you do not need to make an effort to
enjoy."

In fact, I regret not taking him up on his offer to sail around the whole
Italy in his yacht. I would surely NOT have enjoyed the sailing. However, I
missed out on two weeks with Alberto  -  a big mistake.

I add a couple of Alberto stories that I would like to share.

*The Levenshtein-distance*

In 2003 Prof. Rudi Ahlswede from Bielefeld University was funded by ZIF (in
Bielefeld)  to organize a yearlong string of workshops on "Information
Transfer and Combinatorics". Vladimir Levenshtein, who defined the
Levenshtein-distance, was there for several months with a group of fellow
researchers from Moscow. Alberto was also a long-term guest and was asked
to form his own part-time group. I was a young, new faculty member in
Bar-Ilan University and was more than happy to join when Alberto graciously
invited me. My three visits lasted for about a month in total. For those of
you who know Bielefeld – that is a lot of time.

Fortunately, Alberto took his "group responsibility" very seriously and
after research during the day he entertained us in the evenings with
stories, discussions and wine. Towards the end of one of these visits
pictures were being taken of the group. Suddenly Alberto's eyes lit up and
he asked Vladimir to stand next to him and for me to stand on his other
side. With a big smile to the camera he said "I am the
Levenshtein-distance".

*The Ride to Georgia-Tech Lorraine*

I was sitting one afternoon in the mess room of Dagstuhl with Alberto when
he turned to me and asked "Did you know that Georgia Tech has a campus not
far from here?" Obviously, I did not. "You know it is near Metz" he told
me. "Have you ever been to Metz?" he asked. I had not. "Moshe, Metz is a
wonderful city. It has an amazing church and a wonderful old city. You must
come and see it." This is how I was (unknowingly) convinced to join him on
the 200 KM trip (100 in each direction) to check out a potential sabbatical
for Alberto in Georgia-Tech Lorraine.

I do not regret making that trip.

With fond memories,
Moshe

PS - Picture below is the picture just before the "Levenshtein-distance"
picture. Laxmi - do you have the other picture?

On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 12:47 AM, Cinzia Pizzi <cinzia.pizzi at dei.unipd.it>
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> There are two memories that immediately came to my mind when I’ve
> heard Alberto left us: the first and last time I saw him. I’d like to
> share them, together with a story. They are just a little addition to
> all that has already been said about Alberto, but it is a little
> addition that counts a lot to me.
>
> At the beginning of 2002 Alberto and Titti played what I would
> definitely call a crucial role in my life. After my master degree in
> 2001 I started to work in the industry, at Telecom Italia Labs. An
> interesting job, but feeling I was missing something I did apply for
> the PhD program in Padova.  When I was admitted I seek for a PhD
> advisor, but for one reason or the other my search was not as
> expected. So, I went to Titti, who was the PhD program coordinator, to
> tell her I would have stayed in the industry. She suggested talking to
> Alberto, who I hadn’t consulted yet, before making a final decision,
> and led me to his office. That afternoon I had a long chat with
> Alberto. I found myself in front of someone not only highly
> knowledgeable, but so passionate and enthusiast about research to be
> contagious. He helped me ponder pros and cons of my alternatives, with
> deep argumentations, and finally he gave me a paper, “Of maps bigger
> than the empire”, saying if I had liked it, I would have known what to
> do. The following day I returned to Turin, where I was working, and
> told my boss I made up my mind. My PhD with Alberto had just begun.
>
> As a by-side note, when we left Alberto’s office it was dark outside.
> Considering the area nearby the university is not exactly the safer in
> Padova, Alberto, being the gentleman he was, waited with me at the bus
> stop, although he did not need to take the bus.
>
> Two years ago I met Alberto at his hotel in Lipari, to discuss with
> him some problems that would have lead, few months later, to my joint
> paper with both Alberto and Titti! Then we were joined by my husband,
> with my son, and by Titti, and we had a nice drink together on the
> terrace. I remember Alberto showing his boat to my son, explaining to
> him (who was not even two years old) that one was indeed a very good
> boat, while those on the horizon were all “ugly” boats (or whatever
> the translation of “schifezze” is!). That was the last time I saw him
> in person. It was a really nice afternoon, and I will treasure it
> forever.
>
> Alberto liked to play jokes on me about few things. His favourite was
> definitely cooking, although he never ate anything cooked by me (while
> I ate something cooked by him, but this is another story). Here is how
> it all began.
>
>
> The tomato sauce.
>
> Towards the end of my PhD I visited Alberto in West Lafayette and he
> was so kind to help me settling. One day he drove me to buy some food
> and then we went separately to search for what we needed. It was my
> first time in the States and I was looking, without much success, for
> familiar brands. When I had to choose some tomato sauce I was really
> lost. I usually buy “passata di pomodoro” without any addition, which
> is the basis for the tomato sauce. But I could not find it. The choice
> was between ready-to-use tomato sauces, or to buy some tomatoes and
> make the sauce myself. Now, I have to admit I am a bit lazy when it
> comes to cooking, so I picked what looked to me as the simplest
> ready-to-use sauce (i.e. tomato and basil). In that precise moment I
> felt another presence. Alberto was in front of me, with a look of
> great disapproval: “Not even I would ever buy something like that!” he
> told me. Quickly I put the sauce back to the shelf, and ask him what
> he usually bought (note that Titti was not there that semester for a
> more reliable culinary advise). Alberto browsed the shelves and moved
> further in the aisle till he found what he was looking for: “Ah, there
> you are!”, and put a couple of cans in my shopping cart. Then he left
> with a smile of satisfaction, maybe because he saved me from a deadly
> sin for an Italian or, most likely, because he had found something to
> playfully tease me on for the years to come. In any case, I was
> curious to see what he put in my cart. I took one of the cans and it
> was... Tomato Soup! Feeling a little less ashamed for my original
> choice, a smile appeared on my face too, while following him to the
> cash counter.
>
> Since then I’ve heard several times, especially at dinner parties,
> Alberto telling the story of my dreadful choice of tomato sauce, so to
> explain to other guests why I was strictly forbidden to go any close
> to the kitchen. I have to say he was so funny in telling the story
> that it was only recently that I revealed to him that, if he was
> really using what he put in my cart, he must have had “spaghetti with
> tomato soup”!
>
> Cinzia
>
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