We¹ worked together in the Laboratory of Mathematical Cybernetics of the Institute of Mathematics. The head of the laboratory was Yuri Nikolayevich Pechersky (1934 - 2003). We remember Pechersky. Time has put almost everything in its place, leaving us with a moral duty to describe the magic of the person who was our chief.

Objectively, Y.N.Pechersky created a very successful research team that was able to creatively solve complicated problems of data analysis, artificial intelligence, expert systems and fuzzy sets. It is remarkable that this laboratory was a second home for us. We were eager to come there, we were eager to work there. Pechersky was the one who presided. He created - we used, he bestowed - we accepted, he supported us - we moved forward relying on his support.

Pechersky never rebuked anybody, he nurtured us. It was probably the main point of his life; he was very unique in this respect and he was greatly successful. Pechersky nurtured the laboratory, the staff working there and their scientific achievements. Eight defended dissertations² were his eight awards. Greatly he was gratified with our success! And it was him who gradually, gently, little by little made events move in the desirable way.

Pechersky never ordered and he hardly ever used imperatives. He usually expressed orders in the form of request: "It is necessary to give a lecture ...", "Please, go into the preparation of ...". It sometimes seemed to us that we were distracted from some important things, but some time later we understood the genuine conception and practical use of Pechersky's messages and instructions.

Pechersky often started a conversation with the words "Yes, of course ..." ,but it was just illusive figure of speech aimed to arise creative thinking of his converser. Frequently his phrase finished unexpectedly. He loved paradoxical word combinations and phrases - "He is in a good sense a bad person ...".

Pechersky's incredibly wide circle of social contacts always had complex organization: absolutely different people firmly surrounded his inner center, where one can distinguish three circles. It seemed that if a person got into his field of attraction, he stayed there forever. The first two circles contained his course mates and friends of youth. Pechersky deeply loved them, was in correspondence with them, they sometimes met, participated in the joint projects and successfully accomplished them. From time to time we, the representatives of the third circle, were sent to members of the circle 1 and 2 to Pospelov³, Zakrevsky⁴, Yankovskaya⁵ for studying, reporting, implementation.

We did not have problems with business trips at that time, but we lacked computers; we had to ask for computer machine time somewhere else and rely on our personal relations. In fact, our projects depended on relations between people which was a shaky basis for the long lasting projects. Nevertheless, Pechersky easily launched such projects. He really trusted people and liked to say "Human relations are the most important", "The main principal is to be human". Perhaps his strong conviction protected our work and allowed us successfully accomplish it. Of course, in this aspect, our relations with Pechersky outgrew the frames of employer-employee relations, but we never went beyond the bounds.

Proper principles demand sacrifices. We can only surmise how deeply Pechersky suffered when people he had brought up left the laboratory. According to the priorities of human relations you should not feel hurt or offended when you let a person go. He let people go and maintained good relations with them. How did he feel about that?

In personal contacts Pechersky was always the exemplar of perfection. In a mysterious way, he could convert natural human indignation into irony, which simply made rudeness, swearing, and cursing unnecessary. His speech was completely free from any verbal rubbish. As a highly intellectual person, he did not need it at all.

Pechersky read a lot, wrote well, edited, corrected and even bound books. He systematically read fiction, periodicals, novelties in literature, classics. His particular favorite was science fiction. "You just haven't read good science fiction. You must read Lem."

He took seriously and profoundly scientific literature. Once a week he visited Academic library and thoroughly "percolated" all the novelties on his branch of study. His passion for reading coincided with a fine sense of language and perfect knowledge of grammar. Sometimes his passion for reading and sense of the language got into conflict. "I sometimes read a book, - Pechersky said, - turn over the pages, and have one thing in mind: it's a good page, there are no mistakes."

Pechersky wrote his articles and books in the most inappropriate hours, he used his best time for people: he solved social problems of the postgraduates, organized conferences, managed to get additional financing; he also issued a wall paper, organized chess tournaments and the center of robotics. As a person, he had never been in the solitude.

Pechersky died suddenly and unexpectedly, the funeral took place on February 4th. More than 100 people, his friends and followers gathered in dank and gloomy Kishinev to bid him a final farewell. A lot of people did not come to the ceremony that day, because they did not know about his death, or because they had dispersed all over the world. But no matter where we were on that sad Tuesday, it is our duty to forever cherish our students in memory of our