Thank you very much for your e-mail conveying to me the sad news of the tragic death of Yutaka Akino while on assignment in Tadzhikistan for the UN.

During my research stay at the Slavic Research Center in 1978-79, Yutaka was my "guardian angel." He introduced me to Sapporo, to many of its excellent eating places, and to his parents in Otaru. I reciprocated for his generous help by writing a strong recommendation in behalf of his application to study and gain a Ph.D. in England.

Subsequently he visited me in Portland, and in 1988, during the AAASS national convention in Honolulu, my wife and I had the pleasure of seeing him again.

Because Yutaka was a very dear friend, my wife and I are stunned by his death. How tragic that his life has been cut short. He had so much living still to do and so much more to contribute!

Please convey to all members of his family and to all members of the SRC our sincere and heartfelt condolences.

30 Jul 1998

Basil Dmytryshyn

(Professor Emeritus of Oregon State University, a SRC's foreign research fellow for 1978)