Obituary by Prof. Avishai Mandelbaum

The Eulogy by Prof. Avishai Mandelbaum 

May 21, 2018

I would like to start by telling you how I first met Valery.

About 12 years ago, the dean at the time, Boaz Golany, convinced a friend of the Technion to give our Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management a donation, which will support the foundation of a research laboratory, in the area of Service Engineering. The goal of that lab was to collect data from large service systems and prepare it for research and teaching.

Paul Feigin and yours truly were the founders: Paul represented Statistics and I represented Operations Research, and we both represented Industrial Engineering.

We needed a researcher that, ideally, mastered both statistics and computer science, and this got me truly worried: I was unsure where to find such a researcher – such people were rare, especially given the fact that this was a “startup operation”, with a lot of uncertainty and a Technion salary (way below the much-higher-paying jobs in high-tech).

Paul however was not worried: he told me that he knows exactly the right researcher for the job, and recommended Valery. Valery had been a researcher in the Statistics lab that Paul had led, over many years, jointly with Professor Ayala Cohen.

Since I had not known Valery, I asked Paul to tell me a little about him. I specifically asked how good he is at what he does. Paul paused for a little, then gave me an answer that frankly shocked me: “He is a genius” was his very brief answer; and those familiar with Paul know that he does not lend himself to exaggerations. Of course, I needed no more, and Valery immediately started his tenure as the senior researcher of the SEELab.

We recruited two more researchers, Ella and Katerina (who left after a few years), and soon after Igor joined us as well. The three of them: Valery, Ella and Igor, worked at the SEELab, in fact THEY HAVE BEEN THE SEELab, for more than 10 years now.

A few words about this lab, which Valery was its “brain”, no less: it is truly a pioneering and still unique “creature” – there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world; and it has taken time for researchers to appreciate its excellence and significance. In fact, there were plans to open such a lab in Singapore and Hong Kong, and they did not materialize since they did not find their “Valery”. There are now ongoing plans to open a lab following our model in Toronto and in NYC – they are seeking our advice, but such an advice always started with Valery, who taught and guided Ella, Igor and myself – frankly, I am truly unsure how this will work from now on.

Why is the SEELab a pioneer?  Because it combines expertise in Statistics and Computer Science – and this is exactly Valery’s professional profile, that enabled him to apply this joint expertise to support data-based research of Service Systems. This combination of Statistics and Computer Science is viewed as natural today – indeed, it is often referred to as the core of Data Science; but this definitely was not the case 10–15 years ago. Hence the SEELab is a pioneer not the least because Valery was a pioneer – his profile in fact shaped and characterized the profile of the SEELab.

Valery was therefore the ideal Data Scientist, or Data Engineer – and he had always been a data-scientist without being called as such. In our Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management (IE&M), Data Science & Engineering has become a central theme of both its present and its future; and we worked hard at characterizing the profile of a data scientist, or a data engineer, when we designed a corresponding profession. (IE&M is now running the first and still unique Israeli undergraduate program, in Data Science & Engineering.) In one of our meetings, when we sought a definition, Avi Gal, who has been among the leaders of our program, said: I would like our program to simply create and educate “Valery’s”.

Valery was the dream-maker (מגשים החלומות) of many researchers. In my own case, I had “scientific dreams”, which I used to tell to Valery; then, before I knew it, he made my dreams a reality in ways that often stunned me in their creativity, depth, insight, quality and impact.

Allow me one story that will make my point clear, I am sure.

About four years ago, Valery created static visualization of our data, that were wonderful visually and useful functionally. I then went on a sabbatical and used these visualizations, on many occasions, to demonstrate the achievements of the SEELab. Then Arik Senderovitch, who was a PhD student working at the SEELab, brought to my attention that a startup company in Holland, coming out of Eindhoven University, created visualizations that were similar in spirit to what Valery created. These animations were inferior visually to ours, but they were dynamic – and this turned out to be important: the impact of dynamic animations on doctors and managers was immediate and dramatic. I became convinced that we should make SEELab’s data-animations dynamic.

I finished my sabbatical and returned to the SEElab. In our first lab meeting, I raised the issue of dynamic animations, and said that perhaps we should connect to the Dutch company since it is worth learning from them their technology. Valery, in his quiet manner, said: I am not sure that we need to learn from them. I already knew Valery well enough to take his comments seriously. So I said: okay, lets discuss it again on our meeting next week.

However, a few days before that meeting, Valery called me to his computer, saying that he wanted to show me something. I was amazed! In about 3–4 days, he created dynamic animations that the Dutch company could only dream of having – and this company was founded by PhD graduates from a top university, who had done research on precisely such matters.

This was an incredible achievement. We have been using these dynamic data animations numerous times since then, and they actually became the trademark of the SEELab – this is how people remember us, and many do: and, amazingly, Valery did it in 3–4 days, so you can imagine what he has been doing over the 10+ years that he led research at the SEELab.

I told you a lot about Valery as a scientist. However, this must not take away from the fact that Valery was a wonderful husband and father. How do I know that, without being part of the family? I could see and feel how he cherished those vacations that he was going to annually. Then, every day he would come to work at 6am or 630am (no one knows since we are not there at that time) – his wife brought him over; and every day, on the dot at 2:30, his wife came to pick him up, and they drove back home – so if I happened to be talking to him around that time, he would give me a shy smile at 2:27 or so, close the conversation, get up and go outside to wait for his wife.

He was also very proud of his son and his achievements. One or two weeks before his son’s regular excursions to Israel, he would happily tell me that his son will be visiting, and asked for a day or two off, which of course was automatic. After the visit, it was so very clear how much he enjoyed it.

Valery was a wonderful human-being: humble, honest, always happy to help others and share his exceptional knowledge and penetrating insights. It is thus no wonder that the SEELab has had many visitors, from all over the world; and the successful career of many researchers, especially young researchers or graduate students or postdocs, owes a lot to Valery.

Let me end with reading to you, as but one example, what Arik Senderovich, who did his MSc and PhD during Valery’s tenure at the SEELab, wrote in response to the very sad news:

Arik wrote: “This is a very sad day for the SEELab family. I wish I could be there with you all at the SEELab during these difficult times – Valery will be gravely missed by everyone who worked with him and knew him. Personally, I owe him a lot for educating and supporting my research & teaching, throughout my years at the Technion.”

May Valery rest in peace – we shall indeed miss him dearly.

Valery is survived by his spouse, his loving son and two grandchildren.