We three editors of this volume are former Ph. D. students of Professor Mircea Cohn at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Donald Grierson obtained his Ph. D. degree in 1968, Alberto Franchi in 1977, and Paolo Riva in 1988, and as such, we span almost the entire career of Professor Cohn at Waterloo. Even though we graduated during different decades in his life, we share similar views of Mircea Cohn as an educator, researcher and man. Together we recall that he was very firm in his resolve that we get the most out of the education he was facilitating for us. Together we agree that he was inspirational in his desire to have us carry out the very best research work we were capable of. Together we feel particularly fortunate to have had such a dedicated and distinguished individual as Professor Cohn as our Ph. D. research advisor. It is with great pleasure that we ack­ nowledge him as our mentor and friend. We began in 1989 to plan this volume as a tribute to Professor Cohn on the occasion of his 65th birthday in 1991. Upon contacting his many former students and research associates from around the world, we were not surprised to find that they too shared our feelings of respect and admiration for Mircea Cohn as an educator, researcher and man.