[CPM-SPIRE-L] the ultimate Raconteur

Wed Jul 29 19:42:41 PDT 2015

Gang,

Like all I am saddened by Alberto's passing.   Has their been a fund set up
where one can make a donation in his memory? If so, please send me and
presumably the list the information.

I include my favorite story about him below.

Steve

=====================================================================

The Ill-Timed Flush
-------------------------

I was blessed to spend the Summer of 2002 visiting Padova.   Alberto was a
very gracious host during my visit.  I will always treasure memories of
that time: lunches with Alberto trying to explain to me how Italy did and
didn't work, and a special dinner at his and Titti's lovely home.

My wife Renee has always dreamed of owning a boat, and hoped in vain that I
would eventually come to share this dream.   Soon as Alberto got wind of
this he immediately invited us on an overnight trip on his boat.   "Surely
Steve will have such a wonderful time he will run to buy a boat the instant
he gets back to the United States.".

I warned him that Renee had tried this strategy with her nautical friends
twice before, to no avail.   I even warned him that both of those trips
ended up with the boat being towed to port.  I am a jinx at sea.

But Alberto waved this off, and we had a wonderful time cruising the
Adriatic Sea.  On the second day at sea a passing boat asked to borrow a
corkscrew, and rewarded Alberto's gallantry by dragging along a line which
hopelessly entangled the propeller of his boat.

But Alberto knew what to do.   He repeatedly dived off the boat and worked
underwater to try to cut the cord loose.   This was hard work, and I was
impressed with his strength and stamina as he tried to clear the propeller.

Then a party (to remain nameless) stepped out of the little toilet we had
onboard.  At that exact instant Alberto came sputtering to the surface, a
lesson in what happens to waste at sea.    But the real lesson was
Alberto's grace in accepting apologies for this transgression.   He was a
true gentleman in all senses of the word.

Our boat trip together that was no less wonderful for us because we had to
get towed back into port.   My memories of seeing Alberto and Titti in
Israel this January will endure as the last time I saw them them together.
  We will miss him.

Steven Skiena

On Wed, Jul 29, 2015 at 6:13 AM, Nadia Pisanti <pisanti at di.unipi.it> wrote:

>  Dear all,
> these are my 2 cents of contribution to the Apostolico tales: a story and
> the two attached photos.
> This is actually I joint work with Ugo Vaccaro (who helped me to recall
> the story and gave the concert photo), ad with Zsuzsanna Lipták (for the
> other photo).
>
> The first time I heard Alberto talking, I immediately recognised his
> southern Italy accent, even if he was speaking in english. As a daughter of
> two napolitan parents, I loved it. His accent was intentional, or at least
> so it was in my opinion. Sure enough, he had this accent when he told us
> the following story a few weeks ago at CPM in Ischia.
> In was evening, after some Ischia good food, in a beautiful garden of an
> Ischia hotel, with the perfect weather of an Ischia summer night. Alberto
> started saying “One can really be stupid when he is young… I don’t know
> whether it gets really better when one is old, but for sure, one can be
> really stupid when he is young!"
>
> Nadia
> __________________
>
> *"One can be really stupid when he is young!"*
>
> The story starts some forty years ago, when Alberto’s uncle (the brother
> of his father) passed away. The two brothers owned together a pastry
> [production and/or shop, we don’t really know, nor we recall whether/where
> this was precisely located in Ischia]. It was a small but valuable
> family-ran enterprise. Or, at least so it was until then, because to
> Alberto’s father surprise, the half owned by the defunct was sold to a big
> and very famous pastry chef and entrepreneur named *Calise* [now by far
> the main pastry production and sale in Ischia]. As a result, Alberto’s
> father was left with a business that was no longer a family one, and as
> such it had lost most of its interest as a job. Nevertheless, he made lots
> of resistance to selling his other half to Calise, whose offers were making
> a certain pressure.
> One day - and here Alberto was present - there was yet another session
> with Mr.Calise trying to convince Alberto’s father to sell, and Alberto’s
> father sinking in his armchair having more and more trouble to resist to
> the insisting attack. Mr.Calise was a clever man, and therefore he soon
> understood that it was not a money issue, but just that Alberto’s father
> did not want to give away a family business he was proud of. Then he came
> up with the following offer:
> “I can build you a villa wherever you want in Ischia, just tell me where!”
> Alberto’s father was then clearly tempted, and turned to Alberto who was
> sinking even deeper in his armchair.
> “You know”, he told us, “I was already quite regularly in the US, wasn’t
> really interested at that time in a house in Ischia….”
> Then the half-pastry was sold with another deal, which included that from
> then on, every Easter and every Christmas, a package full of Calise’s
> pastry was delivered to them. Mr.Calise never forgot his promise, and the
> package kept on arriving twice a year as long as Alberto’s father was
> alive. But… no villa in Ischia after all, said Alberto. And he added: “One
> can be really stupid when he is young!”
> ________________
>
>
>
> On 27/07/15 03:12, Laxmi Parida wrote:
>
> *Alberto, the perfect gentleman*
> I formed an  indelible bond with Alberto ever since his  visit to the IBM
> Research lab, in 2001-2002.  He spent roughly six to eight months at the
> institute and I got to know him at many different levels: a collaborator, a
> friend, a mentor, a confidant.  He helped me buy my car. Quickly realizing
> my ignorance on the subject, one fine afternoon he drove me to the dealer
> and did all the negotiating. The result: I drove home a brand new BMW. He
> warned me not to wiggle in my car since the BMW, being the fine piece of
> engineering that it is, would wiggle with me.
> Later, during that visit I once invited Alberto and family home for
> dinner. In the foolishness of my youth, I made the error of serving some
> Italian inspired dishes (I remember what I had cooked but will spare you
> the details). Few days later two Italian-Cooking magazines mysteriously
> appeared in my mailbox. I now shudder to think that I even served him some
> local wine. It was later that I was to learn about his taste in wine (and
> food). And,  somewhere along the line,  like David Sankoff, I have also
> become a regular consumer of Prosecco.
>
> The year 2008 was special. I missed the celebration in CPM at Pisa. I
> organized a small surprise birthday party for Alberto at the Trieste School
> (attached picture). And, I had the good fortune of staying at his place in
> Padova during my birthday, where he had a surprise cake for me (attached
> picture). Sometime, between the two celebrations,  I was on his boat
> (attached pic with Rosa).
>
> *Penchant for positivity*
> I have never ever heard Alberto say a negative thing about anything. He
> had this uncanny knack for giving a positive spin to all.
> Once I had worked for weeks on a proof of a theorem, but, as luck would
> have it, it all collapsed. I was very disappointed and when I told Alberto
> about it, he said, again in a style that only he can say,  "a lot can be
> salvaged from the rich debris of a wreck".  Sure enough, he joined me in
> the rescue effort.
>
> Here is a hilarious one, that always brings a smile to my face.
> Once after a week in DIMACS, where we had co-organized a workshop, I came
> home to a very tall pile of dishes in my kitchen sink. Later I was
> complaining to Alberto about this and he said  "You are lucky  that the
> dishes were not all over the house-- under the sofa, behind the TV, on the
> bed, etc etc where they could very well have been. At least, they were
> neatly placed in the sink for your convenience."
>
> Well, there is one exception. Even Alberto could not get himself to say
> something nice about yogurt. He did not like yogurt. He was only too happy
> to give the credit for inventing yogurt to the Greeks (or, Indians when I
> so insisted).
>
> *Simply funny*
> Alberto loved to spend the month of August sailing. I have heard great
> many boat stories from some of you and from Alberto.  Here is a little one
> of mine:
> Once I had to reach him during the month of August and needed his
> signature urgently for a document. Given his location, he said that I
> should feel free to replicate his signature (let me assure the reader that
> this was for a very innocuous purpose) and so I did. A few more  times as
> well. Then later he came back to me saying if I could send him a copy of
> his signature, so that he could study it and replicate his own signature,
> for the future.
>
> *The Perfectionist*
> People who know me also know of my strange desire to get one in a real or
> fake tango pose for a Kodak moment. Alberto always dodged my request,
> perhaps because the perfectionist in him didnt like the idea of faking, and
> pushed someone else to oblige me. But finally, he gave in at one of our
> Dagstuhl workshops (maybe because Titti silently insisted- attached
> picture).
>
> As I recall and write these, I realize how he touched our lives in so many
> ways.
> Unquestionably, a great scholar with depth as well as breadth- almost an
> impossibility to achieve. I continue to work closely with many of his
> academic descendants. At a personal level, he was a perfect gentleman and
> the nicest man I have ever known. I will always miss him.
>
> Laxmi
>
>
>
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