After the untimely death of Yuri Rubinsky in January of this year, many members have asked if there will be some kind of foundation in his memory. The Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation has recently been created as a fitting tribute to a man who will long be remembered in our industry.
The Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation is dedicated to commemorating the genius of the late Yuri Rubinsky by bringing together workers from a broad spectrum of disciplines to stimulate research and development of technologies which will enhance human access to information of all kinds.
Recognizing that all human capabilities are limited in various ways, it seeks to achieve, to the fullest extent possible, equality of access for all.
The Foundation provides a focal point for those honoring the life and work of Yuri Rubinsky, an industry leader, inventor, entrepreneur, author, humanitarian and friend.
Yuri's tireless work to advance understanding and applications of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) began as an extension of his work in publishing and evolved into a commitment to broaden the publishing metaphor. He saw the potential inherent in SGML toward achieving greater access for the blind and visually impaired; using SGML, his novel Christopher Columbus Answers All Charges was coded into Braille and produced on voice synthesizer before it was printed. A World Wide Web innovator, Yuri committed his company, SoftQuad, to the development of software tools to make SGML a practical basis for international document information systems.
Colleagues, associates, business competitors and friends universally acknowledge Yuri's generosity in encouraging co-operation and the exchange of ideas. He was a listener, a respector of all persons, an invaluable resource and consequently, an inspiration. Through his vision, energy and enthusiasm, he provided help to emergent projects -- connected people with mutually complementary ideas, made practical suggestions, offered insight.
To carry on Yuri's work and spirit, the Foundation will develop appropriate programs and projects, the first of which is the Yuri Rubinsky Information Access Award. This award will be given to an individual or organization in recognition of significant contributions which have improved information access to all, in local or global contexts.
Stan Bevington (Coach House Printing)
Bill Clarke (SoftQuad)
Charles F. Goldfarb (inventor of SGML)
Douglas MacLeod (architect, virtual reality innovator)
Peter Sharpe (Soft Quad)
Haviland Wright (Displaytech Inc.)
Holley Rubinsky
Contributions may be made to the Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation account.
The account is deposit only. The Foundation is non-profit. Donations will be acknowledged.
CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)
Private Banking Centre, Yonge & Bloor
2 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON, Canada M4W 2G7
Attn: Anne Foster
Account number: 77-16613
By wire:
CIBC Yonge & Bloor, Transit #00502
Bank code 010
Account number: 77-16613.
[This note is added editorially to the electronic version of the ISUG Newsletter article.] There is now (April 1997) a dedicated Web site for the Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation. Also, see the the dedicated section for Yuri in the SGML Web Page. Tributes to Yuri Rubinsky may be found in the special Tribute page, from some sixty (60) friends and colleagues.
Contact Robin Cover with corrections and updates, or to submit contributions to the ISUG online document database.
