Letters of Condolence

To the Staff
of the Institute of Mathematics
of NAS of Ukraine

Dear Colleagues,

With deep sadness the scientists of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences learned about the unamendable loss, untimely death of the outstanding mathematician, the member of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Anatolii Volodymyrovych Skorokhod.

For many years, Anatolii Volodymyrovych Skorokhod’s life had been inextricably connected with the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Mathematics of NAS of Ukraine. The depths of his thinking, his mathematical talent have become highly respected by the scientists far beyond Ukraine.

The blessed memory of  Anatolii Volodymyrovych Skorokhod remains forever in the hearts of his colleagues and will be a good example for many generations. We convey our condolences to the family and relatives.

To director of the Institute of Mathematics
NAS of Ukraine
academician of NAS of Ukraine
SAMOYLENKO A.M.

The staffs of the Institutes of the  Cybernetic Center of the Ukrainian  National Academy  of Sciences with deep sadness have learned about the death of a prominent mathematician ANATOLII VOLODYMYROVYCH SKOROKHOD and express their condolences to his family and friends.

Anatolii Volodymyrovych has enriched the science with world-class results. We appreciate his contribution to the development of Informatics and Mathematics. His results had been put in their foundations.

Let he rest in peace.

The scientific school of mathematicians in the field of probability theory of Lviv deeply mourns over the death of world-renowned scientist, one of the founders of Ukrainian mathematical probability school, professor, academician of NAS of Ukraine Anatolii V. Skorokhod. Ukrainian science has suffered an irreparable loss. In other world passed away a man who was a teacher, a mentor for the students of his outstanding school, for all those who had the opportunity to listen to his lectures and scientific reports, just communicate with him. He was a standerd of decency, intelligence and love to homeland. The blessed memory of Anatolii Vladimirovich will forever remain in our hearts.
We express our sincere condolences to the relatives of the deceased.

Memory eternal,

All staff of the Department of Probability Theory, Statistics and Actuarial Mathematics is deeply saddened at the fact that the great scientist, one of the great founders of modern probability theory and the theory of random processes, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Professor, Anatoliy Volodymyrovych Skorokhod departed this life.
His creation, namely,the Skorokhod topology and the Skorokhod integral, Skorokhod's embedding theorem, the method of a common probability space has entered into practice of the probabilists worldwide.

Implementing of exclusively beautiful and original ideas, which became classical then, was a distinguishing feature of his mathematical works.

We all learned from his books, and the older generation was lucky to listen to his lectures on discrete mathematics, additional sections of probability theory, the theory of Markov processes, theory of Gaussian measures, controlled random processes, the general theory of random processes.
It was an incomparable delight to speak or be present at the Republican Seminar on Probability Theory chaired by Anatoliy Skorokhod at Kiev State University. His reaction was sharp and brilliant, his remarks were profound and at the same time witty, and he was able not only to criticize the speaker, but also immediately give him good advice.
We express deep condolences to the family and relatives of Anatolii Volodymyrovych Skorokhod and grieve together with all the mathematical community.

I am shocked and feel deep sorrow to learn the saddest news that Professor A. V. Skorokhod passed away a few days ago.
The world has lost a great mathematician. His ingenious ideas and research work will continue to inspire mathematicians and his mathematical spirit will live forever.
I would like to offer my deepest condolence to the family of late Professor Skorokhod. I also want to express my deepest appreciation for his influence on my mathematical work.

With deep sorrow,

Letter to V.V. Buldygin:

Me and my friends and colleagues (Gogi, Gela, Zura and others) are deeply going though this sad event. Anatoli Vladimirovich for us was not only a great teacher and leader in science, but also the man who strongly supported us in difficult moments. Due to his help it has become possible to form our group working in the field of measures theory.
I will not talk here about many other noble qualities of Anatolii Vladimirovich - his open-minded and high culture, his warm attitude towards Georgia. The death of Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod - this is a great loss to Ukraine.
I have a big request to you - to convey our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Dear Ukrainian colleagues,

I deeply regret the death of Anatolii Skorokhod.  He was the ideal of a probabilist for me and many other people around the world.
Skorokhod's books, especially his "Studies in the theory of random processes",  made a profound impact on the development of the probability theory and mathematical statistics. Personally, I owe Anatolii Volodymyrovych his support and encouragement for my work, which I will never forget.

Dear friends, disciples, and admirers of Skorokhod:

It is with great sadness that I read the announcement of the passing. I remember vividly the late 1950's when I was a graduate student in  the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, India. The Journal of the Theory of Probability had just started appearing, and the early issues contained the papers of Skorokhod on the D-space and its topology. It was a very original contribution which had a great impact on the foundations of the subject.

With regards

It is sad to receive this news. I did not know Skorokhod personally, but his work was always a great inspiration to me.

with my condolences

This is a terrible loss for probability theory. I send all wishes to the whole community.

Best,  

Please accept my condolences on the tragic news of the death
of   Anatolii Volodymyrovych .SKOROKHOD...

MATHEMATICS has lost a brilliant scientist !

But his ideas will survive hundreds of generations!

Sincerely,

Dear colleagues,

This is very sad news. Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod generated several world-established new directions in Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes and his bright and remarkable ideas have influenced a few generations of mathematicians all over the world.
Anatolii Vladimirovich was also a Great teacher for many of us and made an incomparable impact into the development and establishment not only of the Ukrainian but also the former Soviet Union Probabilistic School. The world lost a Great Scientist and me together with many colleagues deeply regret about it.
I express my sincere condolences to the family and friends.

I was sad to hear it.
Mathematics is certainly deprived of one of its most gifted workers, and the mathematical community will be poorer after his passing.
The chorus of the great minds in the other side of Acheron is enriched by still another member.

Dear Colleagues,
I'm very sad to learn that Professor Skorokhod passed away. He  was a great mathematician. His works influenced a lot my career.

We do share fealings of sorrow caused by the death of Professor Skorokhod.
His influence on probabilists in Poland is difficult to overestimate. Starting with his and Gichman's monographs on Theory of Random Processes, Theory of Stochastic Differential Equations and then by his numerous beautiful ideas and results he has made a lasting impact on our research. Beside Kolmogorov he will be remembered here as one of architects of modern  probability and  stochastic processes theory.
                              Sincerely yours

I am expressing deep sadness because of the loss of Professor A.V. Skorokhod. I have met Professor Skorokhod at Michigan State University. He has generously spent with me hours discussing my research. I have used Professor Skorokhod's results and techniques fundamentally in many areas of my work. I remember him as a brilliant mathematician and as a kind person with the most sincere smile. My condolences go to his family and relatives.
 
Leszek Gawarecki,
Mathematics Department Head
Kettering University

Dear Colleagues,
It is a great loss for mathematics around the world. Prof. A. Skorokhod was one of my best Professors at Kiev State University and I'll remember him and his amazing and creative lectures for all my life. My warmest sympathy to his family.

With my condolences,

Dear Ukrainian colleagues,

We are sorry for your loss, you have our deepest sympathy. One of us met Skorokhod during his visit to Finland in 1991, the other one in Kiev about ten years later, and both of us have enjoyed working with members of the Skorokhod school.

With our condolences

I was very sorry to hear of the death of Professor Skorokhod. I remember him well, as a mathematician, and as a human being.
                                           Sincere condolences,

Please accept my condolence on the sad news of passing away of Professor Anatolii Volodymyrovych Skorokhod.
He worked on theory of probability and stochastic processes in a large framework and gave strong influences to the "probability" world.
I would like to devote my sympathy to the members of Probability Theory in Kiev and family of Professor A. V. Skorokhod.

The world mathematics suffered a great loss with the passing of Anatolii Volodymyrovych Skorokhod, one of the most outstanding mathematicians of the 20th century. The modern theory of stochastic processes and mathematical statistics is strongly based on the ideas of A.V. Skorokhod. One cannot overestimate his merits to the Ukrainian school of probability theory.
We also point out strong relations of A.V. Skorokhod with Lithuania that he loved and whose history and culture he knew well. He was a permanent participant and speaker at the International Vilnius conferences on probability theory and mathematical statistics and seminars-workshops on stochastic processes, held in Lithuania.
We express our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues.
 

Dear Colleagues,

Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod is dead.
It is a very sad event for me.  One of the greatest probabilists of the 20-th century has passed away. The great scientist and teacher. I knew his name from my childhood from the title of the book the collection of problems for mathematical competitions. I was  lucky to  write an article in co-authorship with him  about the object now called the Skorokhod integral. There are not so many mathematicians whose names will remain in the centuries in terms of fundamental concepts and theorems. Such terms as Skorokhod space, Skorokhod metric, Skorokhod embedding problem  will last forever
It is a great loss for all of us, especially, for those who knew Skorokhod personally. We shall honor his memory during next week on the 5th Bachelier Colloquium.

All my sincere condolences for the death of Skorokhod.

I was saddened to learn of Professor Skorokhod's death.
It is one of those split moments when you start feeling that the world will never be the same. His ingenious mathematics will always serve as a shinning reminder of his greatness.

Sincere condolences,

Being not personally acquainted with Anatolii Vladimirovich, I deeply sorry about this terrible loss for the mathematics of Ukraine and the whole world. 
His books, articles and discoveries left a significant mark in probability theory and mathematical statistics.
I express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Anatolii Vladimirovich and his colleagues in Ukraine and in Michigan.

Please accept our deepest condolences on the death of Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod an outstanding mathematician, who is a proud not only of the Ukrainian people.

Dear Ukrainian colleagues,

We deeply regret that Professor Anatolii Skorokhod passed away. It is an irreplaceable loss for the whole mathematical community of the world. Especially for Georgian mathematicians and probabilists with whom Professor Skorokhod for years has had very close scientific and friendly relationship. We witnessed his brilliant fly up that started at the end of fifties which eventually made him one of the top probabilists of the world. Convergence of Stochastic Processes, Markov Processes, Statistics of Stochastic Processes, Stochastic Differential Equations, this is an incomplete list of directions where Skorokhod's contribution was invaluable. Skorokhod's  numerous articles and monographs, witty solutions to many problems both complex and popular will constantly remind us the name of this celebrated personality.

Please accept our condolences and convey them to the family of Anatolii Vladimirovich, colleagues and friends of him.

The staff of the department of  Mathematical Analysis and Probability Theory of National Technical University "KPI" saddened the death of Anatolii Vladimirovich  Skorokhod and expresses sincere condolences to family, friends, students, colleagues of the dead.
Memory Eternal.

Ukrainian and world science has lost a great Mathematician; family has lost a thoughtful, friendly, loving husband, father, grandfather, brother; his disciples have lost a wise Teacher; and the Probability Theory has deprived its Creator.

The bright memory of Anatolii Vladimirovich will forever remain in our hearts.

The world science has suffered a bereavement. The outstanding scientist, the leading mathematician, a gifted probabilist well known around the world probabilist, a person of  high mental and moral qualities passed away from us. Many fundamental scientific advances of mathematics are connected with the name of Anatolii Skorokhod. He enriched the scientific world with new ideas and results in the theory of random processes. About a hundred of doctors and candidates of science were his disciples. Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod was one of the founders of The  Azerbaijan Probability School.

We deeply mourn the death of Anatolii Vladimirovich and express our condolences to his relatives and close friends.

Dear Colleagues,

Please accept my deepest condolences on the death of Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod. Few are people who have left such a great intellectual legacy. A. V. Skorokhod is one of the key figures in creation of the theory of stochastic processes and a dedicated teacher - many are people who learned modern probability from his books. His demise is an awful loss for the probabilistic community.

Dear Colleagues,

As all the mathematicians, I was grieved to know about the death of Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod. His results have become classical, and he created a scientific school  known throughout the world. Besides, Anatolii Skorokhod is  the author of a number of wonderful books.

In September 2010, I was very pleased to take part in the international conference dedicated to the jubilees of Ukrainian academicians I.V. Kovalenko, V.S. Korolyuk,   and A.V. Skorokhod. I would like to express my respect and admiration to the exceptional creativity of these outstanding scholars.

I had no chance to be close friends with Anatolii Vladimirovich,  but I am happy to remind in my memory  his reports on a number of major conferences. The image of a man, solely enthusiastic in science will remain in my memory, of a man who has made an enormous contribution to  development of this science.
 
Please convey my condolences to the family of Anatoly Vladimirovich, his friends and disciples.

Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod passed away but his name will always live in our scientific community through Skorokhod's embedding scheme, Skorokhod's method of a common probability space, Skorokhod's integral, and many other seminal contributions to our field.

His death is a very sad news not only for his family but also for the whole world of probabilists.

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Anatolii Skorokhod.
His fundamental work has a continuing profound impact on the theory and application of stochastic processes.
With sincere condolences to his family and friends.

The staff of the Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics of the Azerbajdjanian Academy of Sciences is deeply grieving by passing away of the unforgettable Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod. Ukrainian mathematics has lost its outstanding representative. Azerbajdjanian mathematicians has lost the best friend,  the scientist of the mighty and brilliant talent, a person of extraordinary internal beauty and spiritual nobility. Academician Skorokhod as the light phenomenon of human life, as a living embodiment of high priceless features of its own nation will remain forever in the memory of generations.

Vladimir Anisimov has sent us the letter of condolences from Gnedenko e-Forum http://www.gnedenko-forum.org/ which unites a few hundred of mathematicians all over the world:

ANATOLII VLADIMIROVICH SKOROKHOD

(1930-2011)

The Gnedenko Forum is sad to announce that outstanding Soviet and Ukrainian mathematician Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod passed away on the 4th of January, 2011 in Lansing (Michigan, USA).

The world has lost one of the outstanding mathematicians of our time, the world-recognized authority in the field of probability theory and mathematical statistics.

Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod was an academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

He was one of the most talented pupils of Boris Vladimirovich GNEDENKO.

In 1956-1964 A.V. Skorokhod had been working at the Kyiv State University, and later he had been working at the Institute of Mathematics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, simultaneously lecturing at the KGU. Since 1993, he has been a professor at Michigan State University (U.S.A.). He became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His scientific works are in the field of stochastic differential equations, limit theorems of random processes, distributions in infinite-dimensional spaces, statistics of random processes and Markov processes.

He authored more than 450 scientific works, including more than 40 monographs and books.

It is of utmost sorrow and grief for me to see the death of Anatoli Skorokhod. The staff of the Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics of the Azerbajdjanian Academy of Sciences is deeply grieving over passing away of the unforgettable Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod. Ukrainian mathematics has lost its outstanding representative. Azerbajdjanian mathematicians have lost the best friend, the scientist of the mighty and brilliant talent, a person of extraordinary internal beauty and spiritual nobility. Academician Skorokhod, as the light phenomenon of human life, as a living embodiment of high priceless features of its own nation, will remain forever in the memory of generations.
 

It is of utmost sorrow and grief for me to see the death of Anatoli Skorokhod. The world has lost a great mathematician. I will miss him greatly.
 

I fell deeply sympathetic toward Ukrainian and Michigan State mathematicians and friends of the late Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod. This is a loss for world science of random processes. I remember how A.N. Kolmogorov told us that a talented young scientist, Anatolii Skorokhod, had come from Kiev for probation at Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University. At this time, I was a student and I remember his active participation at the seminars on Markov processes. I remember his hospitality during my visits to Kiev. He was always attentive and ready to assist in complex mathematical problems. He was a sincere and kind person. His fundamental scientific discoveries continue to help new generations of researchers in probability theory and mathematical statistics.

Dear Colleagues,

It was with deep sorrow that we learned of the death of Professor Anatolii Volodymyrovych Skorokhod, one of the fathers of the contemporary Theory of Stochastic Processes and Stochastic Analysis. Although personally we were not close to Him, in a huge part of our scientific work we have tried to develop and apply His brilliant achievements. We are sure that the influence of Professor Skorokhod's ingenious ideas over the Theory of Probability will last forever.

Please accept our sincere condolences to His family and friends.

Meetings with A.V. Skorokhod
 
With great sorrow I learnt of the decease of Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod, the person to whom I am obliged very much. As for many other mathematicians related to probability theory, my acquaintance with him began with reading his books. I remember very well as I was thoroughly studying the first volume of Gihman--Skorokhod in the fall, 1980 during compulsory students work at an agricultural enterprise (``kolkhoz''), often falling asleep with this book after a hard working day. A bit later I got acquainted  with ``Integration in Hilbert space''. I do not remember precisely when I first saw Skorokhod personally. Possibly, this happened when he had been speaking at our Department of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow Lomonosov University in the quality of a referee at habilitations of A.D. Wentzel and S.A. Molchanov's defense. In June, 1984 together with another PhD students, I was asked to meet Anatolii Vladimirovich at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow and it was the first time when I had the opportunity to meet him personally. We were confused, since at that time the taxi fare from the airport to the city was, in our opinion, incredibly expensive (it seems, amounting to 10 rubles), so we took Skorokhod to a municipal bus. But he said: "Do not worry, guys,  I'll pick you up there by taxi". So, it was unclear who and  whom was meeting.
Next time we met at the Vilnius international conference in 1985, and I was extremely happy that Anatolii Vladimirovich recognized me. Futhermore, he invited me to give a talk at his seminar in Kiev. As the consequence, he wrote a report on my PhD dissertation on behalf of the Institute of Mathematics of the Ukrainian Academy of Science (a report of an organization was required together with two referee reports). It should be noted that at the time a talk at the Skorokhod seminar was regarded as a very prestigious event for the speaker. This  seminar was one of the leading in probability not only in the USSR, but, I believe, also in the world.  An impressive feature of the seminar was the presence  of a large number of young professors among the Kiev participants, a quite rare phenomenon at that time. To pick up the Skorokhod's report, I arrived in Kiev in May, 1986 soon after the Chernobyl catastrophe;I. I remember empty Kiev streets. Strawberries were offered almost free in Kiev markets, but nobody wanted to buy them and Skorokhod advised to drink red wine (it was believed to  help somehow against radiation).

In the subsequent years I had been keeping regular contacts with Anatolii Vladimirovich in Kiev and Moscow. So he was the first to whom I addressed 3 years later, in 1989, asking to be a referee for my doctoral dissertation. At the time Skorokhod was often invited as a referee for defenses not only because he was one of the top experts in probability, but also due to his reputation of being an absolutely independent person, which would take his decision according to his opinion of the work without any political considerations. Various political views played a very important  role (sometimes a major role) in defenses. In my case, the situation was rather complicated, after finishing PhD studies and defending my PhD dissertation in 1986, I got only a temporary position at our department. So during the next 3 years I had to renew my contract every year. The defence of the Doctoral dissertation could significantly increase my chances to get a permanent position. But it turned out to arrange my defense was a rather difficultproblem.
I got a very essential help from Skorokhod. When inviting him to be a referee, I informed him of the existing difficulties. Having learned of the problems, he was not bothered at all and assured me that such a thing was quite usual. In addition, he said that he was ready to be a referee in any scientific council which would accept my dissertation for consideration. Moreover, he told me that I could apply to the council in Kiev, but nevertheless advised to struggle for defense at our department council that I finally managed 2 years later.
In June, 1991 I had spend the whole day of my defense together with Anatolii Vladimirovich. From the very morning, when I met him again at the airport (but this time I was clever enough to get a taxi) until the late evening, when after a friendly dinner at our home he was returning to Kiev by train. That day we talked a lot on many subjects, not only on mathematics. I often remember these conversations when taking one of his many books on my bookshelf. In the introduction to the one of these books, remembering Gikhman, Skorokhod wrote:  "I would like to honour the memory of my teacher and friend at least by this choice of the subject". No doubt that many mathematicians will honour the memory of Skorokhod by their choice of the research subject; this will be definitely done also at our Mehmat seminar "Infinite dimensional analysis and stochastics", where we frequently  recall his name, the name of a classic in probability theory and a generous man with an open heart.

The Ukrainian mathematics and the entire mathematical world as a whole suffered a heavy loss of one of the most outstanding mathematicians Anatolii Skorokhod.

His numerous original research in the theory of random processes and results of titanic work invested into writing numerous books on various aspects of this theory by him personally and in collaboration with I. Gikhman will provide life-giving impact on the development of probability theory and its applications for a long time. His ideas, for sure, will find their development in the works of numerous students and followers.

Mathematicians of Belgorod State University express their deepest condolences to their Ukrainian colleagues.

Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod. This name is accompanied me during my whole adult life. When I was still a kid I visited the Institute of Mathematics, together with my mother, a post-graduate student of Anatolii Vladimirovich, and while my mother worked, I had been spending my time among the great mathematicians, scientists, who sometimes amused me - a child, with riddles and drawings in mathematics. From time to time, Anatolii Vladimirovich came out from his office room, and half-jokingly, very gently and tenderly patted me on the head saying "poor kid" and smiled broadly...

Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod. I feel very mournfully... I cannot believe that the largest probabilist of the last century is no longer with us.... He was a great scientist and a wonderful teacher, who created his own school, left behind remarkable achievements, and, most importantly, the memory of a man with a big heart. The memory of Anatolii Vladimirovich will last forever. For me this, this is my childhood memory, the memory of my soul. We mourn with all our family...

With deepest condolences,

With deep sorrow I learned about the death of Anatolii Vladimirovich Skorokhod, my Teacher, Mentor. We all, his students and colleagues, have lost an outstanding mathematician of modern times, and the science of the world has lost a talented scientist with a huge potential, who has become a classic of the  probability theory. He was a person with a capital letter.
Please convey my deepest condolences to the family of Anatolii Vladimirovich, his wife, friends and students.

We are left without Tolya Skorokhod ... We knew about his disease. During his illness, his wife Ira,  - somehow implicitly prepared us for the worst. But we hoped for the best...but our expectations were not met.

My half-century communication with him gave me a lot. On the first decades of this "era" I often went to his house and I saw a typical picture: he was sitting at his desk, surrounded by papers, writing his famous books, and the Chopin music was quietly heard. Near, on the table there were two or three volumes of poetry. I was amazed that during a break in his work he read some of these thin little volumes. And not only read! But  learned by heart! We all, his close colleagues, were often impressed by his recitation of entire fragments of Pushkin, Fet, Mandelshtam, and in recent years, Brodsky. Thanks to him, almost all the poets of the "Silver Age" had glimpsed in front of me...

At meetings, we talked about the philosophy of Schopenhauer, and about life, but I always felt his concentration on some mathematical  problems (for example, once: "I just do not know how to define  measures in this space ..."). I shared with him my temporary research difficulties and I wondered how quickly he could understand the problem from the general, another to the directions he worked in (the theory of functions, topology), and his advices were good and gave me an another approach to gain the goal.

I can definitely say that I cannot name another person which was a conscientious, productive, constantly filled in with his own ideas in mathematics as him. Twenty of his monographs talk about huge opportunities of
Tolya Skorokhod of my unforgettable real friend ...