In Memoriam

Reuven Y. Rubinstein (1938–2012):

Reuven Rubinstein died in December 2012, when this book was at its final stage of drafting. Reuven was an inspiration to many simulation researchers and practitioners, and was always a stimulating colleague to work with. His co-authors would like to dedicate this book to him, and to show appreciation for all the contributions he made up until the last moments of his life.

Reuven was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1938. His family was exiled to the Syberian Gulag in 1941, but he managed to earn a Master's degree from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute in 1960. In 1969, Reuven obtained his PhD degree in Operational Research from Riga Polytechnical Institute. In 1973, Reuven and his family immigrated to Israel and he immediately joined the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. In 1978, Reuven obtained the Associate Professor rank and in 1992 he was awarded a Full Professor at Technion.

Reuven published eight books and more than one-hundred scientific papers. During his sabbatical years he was a visiting professor at many universities and research centers around the world, among them University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Harvard University, Stanford University, IBM Research Center, Bell Laboratories, NJ, NEC, and the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Japan. He was a member of several societies, including the Operations Research Society of Israel (ORSIS) and the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS).

A highly respected researcher in simulation algorithms, Reuven is best known for founding the score function method in simulation and the cross-entropy method for combinatorial optimization, which generated an entire new scientific community. His research was recognized with several prestigious awards, including the 2010 Lifetime Professional Achievement Award from INFORMS Simulation Society, and the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from ORSIS.

He will be remembered with respect and affection by everyone who loved him for his friendliness, his creative talents, and his animated spirit.