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| Dr. Yury Kravets |
After a long and severe illness our dear colleague Dr. Yury Kravets died on October 24, 2018.
Yury Kravets was born and raised in a small town in Ukraine. After graduating from secondary school with honors he, as many of his peers did, moved to a bigger city to pursue higher education. His first alma mater was the Leningrad State University where he acquired fundamental knowledge of chemistry. Yury continued his education in the Kazan Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology and made a career from a lab assistant to candidate of science and leading associate professor. With keen interest to progress and innovations he developed new course programs and taught lectures in physical chemistry of polymers, chemistry of composite materials, environmental protection technologies. Being a young associate professor during the period of transition of Russia to market economy with no specialized literature available in the Russian language he elaborated the first ever course in Basic Marketing for engineers and technical specialists. Diverse interests, decisiveness and ability to build solid teams of professionals were his distinctive qualities for years.
Dr. Kravets' expertise was sought abroad, in particular in Germany where he moved in 1998. VM Verlag Publishing House invited him to a science editor position in a new specialized journal EXTRUSION Russian Edition. Dr. Kravets was Editor-in-Chief till 2018. When in 2014 a new journal EXTRUSION International was launched, Dr. Kravets enthusiastically dived into work to later become Editor-in-Chief and hold this position till the end of his days.
Work in a publishing house was his new professional experience and life passion. This is where Dr. Kravets' ability to focus on a given task and to notice interesting details and potential in ordinary things were truly revealed. By joint efforts with Ukrainian colleagues he came up with the idea of International Polymer Conference and successfully brought this idea to realization. The First International Polymer Forum took place in Saint Petersburg in 2013 and was followed by 7 more conferences in the next years to become a significant regular event in the Russian polymer industry.
Dr. Kravets' active participation in polymer industry events in Germany, Austria and Russia, high professional expertise and strong work ethics gained recognition and respect among colleagues and partners.
Dr. Kravets had multiple interests, for example, his passion for travel was matched by his other hobby – photography.
Our heartfelt condolences go to Dr. Kravets' family. We will forever keep grateful memories of our dear colleague and friend.
Editorial team, VM Verlag Publishing House
