I just stumbled upon Vlad's obit recently and send my condolences to the family. I was fortunate enough to work with Vlad at Q-tron just as it exploded. It was an exciting time for the engineering dept which was Vlad's pride and joy. The engineering team (Lorne, Erwin, Doug, Geoff and I) were young and full of energy and ambition. Q-tron was an exciting and vibrant place to work at as we grew from one bay to two bays then to several bays and scattered buildings. What made it special for me was that my mother was Slovak and because of that, I had a special connection to Vlad and his heritage. It was a lot of fun to work at Q-Tron. One particular memory pops to mind was when Lorne had a decorative bugle style horn on his desk with the inscription: "Blow for good luck!". One day Vlad (the president of Q-Tron) came into Lorne's office and noticed the bugle and said "I'm going to blow the horn". Lorne pleaded with Vlad not to blow the horn. Vlad blew the horn, not realizing that it was a trick horn that was filled with flour. When you blew it, it blew a cloud of flour back into your face. So there was Vlad standing in Lorne's office with a face full of flour. Vlad didn't say a word, turned and slowly walked away. We never heard a word about it since. I'm thankful for Vlad for giving me the chance and responsibilities at Q-Tron. It made me grow both personally and professionally. Vlad may you rest in peace.
