Born on August 24, 1929 in Vitebsk, Byelorussian SSR, to a family of an employee. In 1931 they moved to Moscow. They lived outside the city, 30 km from Moscow. My father worked in the Main Directorate of Construction as an agent for the supply of office supplies (pencils, pens with fountain pens, writing paper, etc.). My mother was a metal inspector at the Stalin Automobile Plant (ZIS). In February 1942, I was left alone. My father was at the front as a soldier, and my mother was in the hospital with a heart attack. Having received a children’s ration card from the village council, I went to the store to take my place in line for bread. On the way, an unknown man took my ration card from me. (Ration cards were not renewed). I was starving. But I was lucky. In early February 1942, despite being 12 years old, I was conditionally accepted into the vocational school (VS) of the Stalin Automobile Plant. (VS accepted people over 14). During the war, VS students worked in the plant’s workshops 6 days a week, full shift. I worked in tool shop #3 in a team of toolmakers who made molds for die-casting products from silumin alloy and plastic. They made a high stand with a step for me so I could reach the vice on the workbench. At first, I was a mechanic’s apprentice, later a 5th-category mechanic. At the end of the 2nd year of work, I could read drawings. I was awarded the medal “FOR VALIANT LABOR IN THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR 1941-1945.” He served as a soldier in the Soviet Army for three years, six months and four days. He was awarded the officer rank much later. After demobilization, he continued working in tool shop #3 as a fitter and on universal milling and mortising machines, performing work according to drawings.

Starting from the 5th grade, he studied in the evenings after work at the age of 16. He graduated from Moscow School for Working Youth #66. Moscow Evening Mechanical Engineering Institute, specializing in “Mechanical Engineering Technology, Metal-Cutting Machines and Tools”, and completed postgraduate studies at the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering (MIEM). He defended his dissertation on the topic of “Development and study of gear engagement with rolling elements for drives operating in a vacuum”. An author’s certificate was received for the design. (In the vacuum industry, mechanisms with gears operating in a deep vacuum are used in flow lines). For two years he taught the course “Machine Parts” at the evening department of MIEM. Author of a textbook (in co-authorship) on machine parts for universities. Published in scientific and technical journals and collections, participated in international scientific conferences.

In 1960, he was transferred to the Department of Design and Experimental Work of ZIL (UKER ZIL) as a design engineer. He was engaged in the design of equipment for testing parts and units of cars. Later, he was a 1st category design engineer, leading design engineer, group leader, head of the design bureau. I was not a member of the party, but I actively participated in public life. For 11 years, along with my main job, I was elected chairman of the UKER Council of Inventors and Innovators. Awarded the “Certificate of Honor of the Ministry of Automotive Industry and a cash gift” For the development of a highly efficient design, he was given a commendation from the Minister of Automotive Industry of the USSR and awarded a cash prize. (Order of the Minister of the Automobile Industry of the USSR No. 441 of August 29, 1983).

In 1994, the International Exhibition of Automotive Equipment was held in Moscow. At the exhibition, along with other designs from ZIL, there was also my design, which attracted the interest of representatives of a large American automobile company. I was invited to the United States for an interview. After the interview, I was offered a contract to work as a design engineer (Project Engineer) reporting to the chief designer. After retiring, my family (wife and minor son) and I moved to the United States in 1995 on a work visa. The designs that I had to work on were significantly different from those developed at ZIL. After 3 years of work, (according to the regulations) a competition was announced for my position. (An American engineer has advantages over a foreign one). Based on the results of the competition, I was retained. Having worked in the company for 10 years, I retired at the age of 75. Ph.D. (1967), Doctor of Technical Sciences-PhD in Mechanical Engineering (1997).