Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Citing the phrase, "to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy", Stephen Covey indicated that the need to leave a legacy is what "transforms other needs into capacities for contribution". Yuri Rubinsky's legacy is the epitome of this statement. What endeared Yuri to so many of us was his compassion and enthusiasm that enriched all our lives.

Over the past several years, I have had the opportunity to work in the area of assistive technology, designing accessible information, contributing to guidelines and standards, and building the WebABLE! information repository. It was during the first YRIF planning session at Canada's scenic Davis Island, that the Board of Trustees approached me with the idea of serving as the Foundation's Executive Director. I accepted this position because I recognized the dramatic opportunity to give back to the community some of what Yuri had so generously given to me.

Yuri believed that anything could be accomplished if you were committed to the goal, a conviction I share. The YRIF is committed to carrying on Yuri's work. The Foundation is committed to stimulating research and development of technologies that will ensure equality of access to information of all kinds; committed to championing the cause of accessible information through consortia, workshops, standards, and the media. Simply put, the goal is to achieve, to the fullest extent possible, equality of access for all.

Sincerely, Michael G. Paciello, Executive Director paciello@yuri.org Phone: 603 598 9544

Stan Bevington founded Coach House Press in 1964, co-founded SoftQuad Inc and continues to print all varieties of books and ephemera.

Harvey Bingham is an engineering consultant on text processing who has helped develop many industry applications of SGML and the design of DSSSL.

Tim Bray co-founded Open Text corporation in 1989. He is now the principal of Textuality that provides consulting and integration services to major companies worldwide. He has published on the subjects of philology, music, technology and culture in such diverse vehicles as the Toronto Globe and Mail and Wired.

Michael Century has contributed to the cultural scene in Canada and internationally as a specialist in art and technology, an educational administrator, lecturer, writer, musical composer and performer, and software researcher. He is presently a cultural policy advisor working for the federal department of Canadian Heritage.

Michael Ede most recently was Manager of Technology Policy for Apple and based in Washington DC. A long-time friend of Yuri‹s who danced at his wedding, Michael is travelling in Nepal.

Dave Gurney, Chair of the Foundation, is Chairman and CEO of SoftQuad International and has over 17 years of business experience in the global information technology marketplace. Mr. Gurney is also Chairman of the Board of the Information Technology Research Centre, one of seven Centres of Excellence designated by the Province of Ontario.

Joseph Hardin is the Associate Director for Software Development at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois. He is currently a member of the International World Wide Web Conferences Committee, which he helped found.

Alan Karben is the chief document architect of The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition. A member of the Interactive Edition team since its formation in 1993, he has designed and developed many of the components used to produce, link, and search articles and advertisements.

Douglas MacLeod, who has known Yuri since their architecture days at University of Toronto, is an author, architect, electronic musician and specialist in virtual reality.

Murray Maloney is a technical director with SoftQuad in Toronto, Canada. He is active in numerous technical committees related to commercial and scholarly electronic publishing, and the World Wide Web. He is an author, designer and publishing systems architect.

Michael Paciello is Executive Director of the Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation. He also serves as Chairman of the Electronic Industries Association‹s Assistive Devices Division (EIA/ADD) and is co-founder of the International Committee for Accessible Document Design (ICADD).

Holley Rubinsky, the settlor of the Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation, is a fiction writer whose second collection of stories entitled At First I Hope for Rescue will be published in May 1997 by Knopf Canada. She is a Master of the Usui System of Reiki Healing.

Peter Sharpe is Chief Scientist at SoftQuad Inc. where he oversees the technical side of product development. He worked with Yuri for over a decade, helping to bring his ideas to life.

Lee Silverman began his career as Researcher and Instructor at MIT‹s Media Lab between 1979 - 1984. Ten years at Agfa Gevaert as Director of Reseach and Development were followed by three years as Group General Manager and Chief Technical Officer at the Shomega Group in Australia.

David Slocombe is a consultant specializing in structured information. After careers in television and journalism and a stint studying engineering, he conceived of and co-founded SoftQuad Inc. David was for many years SoftQuad‹s VP, R&D.

Tony Wilshere, Treasurer of the Foundation, has variously been an industrial engineer, mathematics instructor, airline/travel industry executive, as well as directory and magazine publisher. He is currently involved in a number of companies, including software, information technology education, real estate, and multimedia publishing.

From Quintin Yardley's eulogy, January 27, 1996:
Almost thirty years ago in that river city town of Sarnia, Ontario, I was a happening kind of guy with brown bell bottom pants and paisley shirts. One day in May of Œ66 or Œ67, I was at the Sarnia Public Library doing what I loved best, avoiding homework by browsing through the book stacks. I bumped into another browser, a fuzzy-haired young man and we became engaged in the most animated conversation that ranged from poetry to political science. When we finally got down to introducing ourselves, we were in for a shock.

"You're Yuri Rubinsky?" I said. "I heard about you, everyone says I talk just like you."

"You¹re P.Q. Yardley?" he replied. "People have been telling me that I remind them of you."

We agreed that everyone was wrong, we were each unique, only vaguely like each other and thus became the best of friends.

I didn't know then, but that was the day that I was collected by Yuri. For Yuri was a collector. A collector of post cards and pithy commentary, images and ideas; but mostly a collector of people. In Sarnia, St. Catharines, London, Toronto, Banff, Kaslo and all around the world, Yuri connected and collected.

He chose people to befriend who interested, amused or informed him. He had broad tastes. He surrounded himself with the literate, the articulate, the artistic, the creative and the humane. He broadened his life experience by recognizing, celebrating and absorbing the experiences of others.

Yuri was an unbiased collector. He prejudged no one on the basis of age, gender, sexual preference, income level, educational background, race, physical ability or religious beliefs. He looked into people for their light of life and gathered those whose beacon beckoned.

He gathered you. He gathered me.

He appreciated us for our qualities. He respected us for our skills. He loved us for our humanity.

We have all been enriched by our relationship with Yuri, a person who could turn walks into parades.

If you would like to contribute, contact Mike Paciello or send your donation to:

The Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation
CIBC, att: Lynn Maxwell, Private Banking Centre 2 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4W 2G7

The Foundation is in the process of obtaining charitable status.