I think his passing is particularly sad for those of us who had the priviledge of having met the man. He led a frugal existence, happy and contented with the simple things in life. He never owned a car and lived in a small flat lent to him by Andrey. He was kind, and his compassion was evidenced by his life's work which came with little material reward. I found him approachable and easy to talk to, in spite of the language barrier. (His german was about as bad as mine.)
He was interested in everything around him. I remember his fascination with some sea shells Tina collected and then gave him. He was particularly interested in cultural things and was fascinated by the displays of Maori culture while in New Zealand. He was greatly moved by the traditional singing and dancing that Russell and Jennifer had arranged for him.
He also had a great sense of humour. I was unfortunately not present on the weekend while the group of practitioners was taking a break in a resort in New Zealand. I heard this story second hand, so please someone correct me if I got it wrong. Apparently Ludmila offered to invoke the spirit of Bruce Lee to the gathering there. Buteyko was furious and stormed out of the room complaining that she should not be meddling with such things and he could not tolerate it. Ludmila did her incantations, when there was a dreadful noise down the corridor. Suddenly the door flung open and in stormed Buteyko. He had taken off his shirt and shoes, rolled up his trousers, spiked his hair and came in swinging wildly in imitation of Bruce Lee. He had also removed his glasses, and the racket was due to him bumping into stuff on his way through. This was apparently one of their favourite party tricks! I tried to get people that were there to describe it more fully to me, but they usually just cracked up thinking about it.
Finally, I have to say he is one of the few people that I really admire. I admire the man for his incredible courage in standing up for what he knew was right, irrespective of the consequences for himself. He has been criticised for this and it has been suggested that a more conciliatory approach would have worked better. I disagree. Many men have tried to pass on the CHVS message, without much success. Buteyko did so with determination, confrontation and spectacle, and he was noticed. By fighting the system visibly and quite spectacularly people took note. As a result I'm confident that there is sufficient momentum to keep the Buteyko movement going.
I sincerely hope that the people aound him will start putting their meomories of him down on paper before they fade. I only met him over two weeks. I want to read the book about the rest of his life. I'm sure many others do too.
Peter Kolb