It was in the sixties. Every week there was an important event at the Department of Experimental Nuclear Physics in Swierk: Zdzislaw's lecture on the theory of nuclear structure, followed by a joint seminar of experimentalists and theoreticians, co-chaired by Zdzislaw. The lecture notes, edited and eventually published as a preprint of the institute, stayed for a long time on the most wanted list for many of us.

Zdzislaw was our guru. He had the rare gift of finding a common language with experimentalists, he took care to keep lively contacts, he discussed, inspired, joked, teased.... The friendship, born then, lasted.

The Mazurian Lakes Schools have started. The modest initiative of a group of Ph.D. students has developed to eventually become a permanent feature in the international calendar of nuclear physics. Zdzislaw was an enthusiast of these Schools from the very beginning. The most crucial need of the Polish scientific community at the time was the need to break the isolation, to establish contacts with world science. Zdzislaw appreciated the potential role of the Schools in this process. He also recognized that in order to do so, these Schools needed something very special, something which would at least partly compensate the unavoidable shortcomings.

This very special something, exerting to these days a strong attractive force, was the atmosphere of the Schools, the mixture of hard work and relaxation, of having fun and poking fun. Zdzislaw set the stage. He knew how to break the ice and shorten the distance between a scientific celebrity and a shy beginner. He was not afraid to risk his authority, he led wild games and joking sessions.

A play was staged during one of the first Schools: the discussion of philosophers. Zdzislaw was Socrates. He remained our Socrates!

Zdzislaw, you came to our School in 1999 for the last time. Never again shall we see your characteristic silhouette standing up at the rudder of a sailing boat; we shall never again listen to your talk. Your wife, Wiesia, told me so simply and beautifuly; "He loved you. It is a consolation for me that he died with you all being around".

We loved you and admired you.

We always will.