Obituary of Leonid M. Likhtarnikov

Leonid M. Likhtarnikov Leonid was born in 1924 in Suvo, a village in the Buryat Republic in Siberia. He was the youngest of nine children. He grew up in several different villages in Siberia, where he developed a love for Russia's natural beauty. He enjoyed fishing with his friends for many years after. He graduated from high school in 1941 and started studies at Irkutsk University but was drafted into the Red Army in February of 1942. He was trained as an officer and went to the front as a lieutenant. He was the executive officer of a battalion and served on the Volkhov front. He was wounded in 1943 and became a teacher of tactics at an officer training school. He was awarded many honors, including an Order of the Red Star, for his service. He lost many classmates and friends and after this would often say "My wish is and always will be peace for my children, grandchildren and all generations. People who have learned what war is will always value peace." After the war, he returned to the university and completed his doctorate in Mathematics in 1950. He stayed there in Irkutsk as a professor for the next nine years. Also in 1950, he married Nonna Andreevna, who would be his wife for the rest of his life. They started a family with son Andre, followed by daughter Elizaveta. The family moved to Khabarovsk, in the far east of Russia, in 1959, where they stayed until 1971, with Leonid continuing as a Professor of Mathematics before becoming Vice President of Khabarovsk Institute. In 1971, Leonid became the Chairperson of the Mathematics Department at Novgorod State University, on the European side of Russia. He loved his work and his students and published 30 articles and 20 books while sponsoring over one hundred students to their doctorates before cancer of the larynx finally led to his retirement in 1994 at the age of 70, after 45 years of teaching. In 1998, Leonid was granted Jewish refugee status by the American Consulate and emigrated with his wife to Rochester, NY, joining Elizaveta there. He returned to school as a student, studying English and American history, becoming a United States citizen in 2003. And as the new millennium began, he and Nonna celebrated both their 50th anniversary and the arrival of a great-grandchild. Leonid loved to tell stories, and talk to his students and friends. They often came to visit and would always be invited to play chess, his favorite recreation. He continued to have a passion for chess to the very end of his life. He was also especially proud of his service in the war, and remembered dearly his comrades in arms. He stayed in touch with them, and his colleagues and former students through a stream of letters. For his 80th birthday, his students constructed a website about his life. ( http://math.ok.nov.ru/index.htm) Unfortunately, soon thereafter, he developed Alzheimer's Disease, and other health problems which led to his passing on December 28, 2007. He is survived by his wife Nonna, his son Andre Likhtarnikov, his daughter Elizaveta Steffen, his granddaughter Yevgenia Likhtarnikova, his grandson Leonid Tsvetkov, and his great-grandson Artyum Mironov. Home Rochester, New York Birthplace Suvo, Russia