The thoughts become tangled, foolish, and unclear, we are in shock.
It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my beloved husband Drago. His loss is deeply felt by me, our daughters Laura and Victoria, extended family, colleagues, students, and friends.
Drago was an exceptional individual who embodied the qualities of kindness, generosity, intelligence, and dedication in every aspect of his life.
As his wife, I had the privilege of witnessing Drago's brilliance, passion, and unwavering commitment to his work and students. His intelligence and expertise were evident, but it was his gentle and patient approach to teaching that won the hearts of his students. He was always willing to go the extra mile to help his students succeed and was admired by all who knew him.
Beyond his work, Drago was a man of unwavering moral character. He was honest, trustworthy, and held himself to a high standard of integrity that was apparent in all his interactions. His kindness and generosity knew no bounds, and he was always giving of himself, never expecting anything in return.
Drago was a devoted husband and father who loved his family unconditionally. His daughters Laura and Victoria were the light of his life, and he was incredibly proud of them both. His legacy of love and devotion to his family will continue to inspire us all.
Drago had a tremendous impact on our community, and his legacy will live on through the countless students whose lives he touched. As his wife, I am grateful for the love and companionship we shared and will cherish his memory forever. He is the love of my life and my best friend. People like Drago are rare, broad-minded, kind, and good in every sense of the word.
To all those who knew him, we extend our deepest sympathies during this difficult time. May Drago's memory be a blessing to all of us, and may he rest in peace knowing that his life made a profound impact on the world around him.
- Axinia Radeva
I am absolutely shocked. Drago and I go back a long time, when as graduate students or shortly thereafter, we met at ACL. I was involved in the organization of the NACLO at the very beginning, and he was surely one of the drivers of that very successful enterprise. And then we served together on the ACL executive committee at a certain point. He was devoted, well informed, and also, very practical in his approach to events and management. A small memory: he was chairing the session at ACL in Uppsala in 2010, and he made a good humored joke about the paper I was about to present (reviews of songs), which I think put the whole audience in a good mood. I will treasure that moment, as small as it is. Condolences to his colleagues, students, and family.
- Barbara Di Eugenio
I can't imagine the world without Dragomir. He left us too soon. Every moment as his mentor has been a joy, following his latest contributions and newest developments, collaborating on many fronts over two decades. The last time I saw Dragomir was Feb 2020 at his AAAI Fellow celebration in NYC. Steve and I were so pleased to be able to join him and Axinia that day. He served the community broadly, from ACL to NACLO to teaching and mentoring so very many students over the years. He touched the lives of so many people and served selflessly. My heart goes out to you, Axinia and your beautiful family.
- Bonnie J Dorr
Drago was a brilliant researcher and a wonderful person. I worked with him on the ACL Executive Board when he was Secretary and I was Treasurer. He was dedicated to the work and to ACL, and he was always responsive and helpful in everything.
- Graeme Hirst
I am so shocked to hear the passaway of my dear friend, my mentor, my committee member at University of Michigan, drago. You have made so much impacts on me and my professional life. Your guidance for my son Jonathan who made to Yale this year will always be cherished and rememberd. RIP.
- Patrick Fan
This is such sad news. We were officemates one summer as AT&T Bell Labs research interns, and I also remember so many times over the decades one would get a lightning-fast email response from him no matter what the hour. (For the first or second North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad, we sent sooooo much email back and forth). Such a warm and enthusiastic person; such a loss.
- Lillian Lee
Drago was an incredible force for positivity and light in our community. Though he had significant challenges in his family life, he never left that circumstance detract from his enthusiasm and his engagement with our community. We are grateful for his time with us, and we mourn his loss and the loss of his buoyant spirit. He gave us all great hope for what this world can be.
- Jeff Brock
I am deeply shocked, heartbroken, and saddened by the passing of my dear PhD advisor, Drago. He was always wise, supportive, and willing to help anyone in need. I was fortunate to be admitted by him and start my PhD journey at Yale in 2017. Throughout the five years of my study, he proved to be an exceptional mentor. His guidance had a profound impact on me and many others. Working with him was a tremendous privilege, and it never occurred to me that I would be his last PhD graduate. Drago will always be a perfect role model for me, and I aspire to follow in his footsteps as a great educator and researcher, and to contribute to society in meaningful ways.
- Irene Li
I am just so sad to learn of this. Drago was always so friendly and enthusiastic, and had such a wonderful presence. I learned back in 2011 he was quite the hockey fan - all of a sudden during the NCAA championship game between my place U of Minn Duluth and his (at the time) Michigan I got these very excited emails about the game, and they continued for the duration. And it was just such fun, and so totally unexpected to have this extended exchange about college hockey with Drago of all people. i am pleased to report UMD emerged victorious and Drago was quite gracious and indeed happy for all of us here in Duluth. What a good person.
- Ted Pedersen
I co-authored a paper with Drago in 2002 when he was at the University of Michigan School of Information (I was a master’s student). Our project was to evaluate search engine results in response to natural language questions. This anticipated the incorporation of AI into search engines, a feature just added to Bing and probably on the way from Google.
I took Drago’s course Language and Information covering NLP and more. He loved to use Bill Clinton as an example when discussing NLP problems.
Drago showed great care and sensitivity when our mutual friend, a former student at Michigan, suffered serious injuries. He helped me reconnect with that person.
I am sure that he lit sparks in students, inspiring them to continue pursuing research questions that are changing the world.
- KL
I'm still in total shock at the news and consumed by sadness. Drago was a dear mentor and friend for a long time. Like many others, I was fortunate to have him as a major influential figure in my professional life. I took my first NLP course with him. He was on my dissertation committee. He sent me his best students as interns. We have been collaborating on and off over the years, most recently on a book. He was brilliant yet always so humble. I've learned so much from him. He will continue to be an inspiration to me on how to be a life-long scholar and someone who makes a positive difference in the world. He will be forever missed by many of us.
- Yunyao Li
Drago was my mentor. He was the KINDEST PERSON I met in the NLP community. During my 2015 internship at Yahoo Labs, I worked with Drago on a multimodal timeline summarization project. He was very forwarding looking - multimodal event timeline summarization remains a challenging task today. After graduating, he dedicated much time to helping me grow in my own career.
Drago was an avid fan of quiz games and puzzles. I still vividly remember that in 2011, all Columbia CS faculty and students sat together to watch the IBM Watson Jeopardy show: no one in the audience could figure out the answers except that Drago could answer most of them.
Drago's mentorship touched countless lives, including mine. To me, he was always my mentor and our academic big brother from the Columbia NLP Group. Words cannot adequately express my gratitude for his invaluable guidance and support. 🙏 Thank you Drago.
- William Wang
Drago added so much to our department at every level -- from contributing to the stature of the department through his research achievements to giving so much to individuals. He always made time to talk to another student, supervise another project, attend another event, and make a point of getting to know people. Just recently I needed to ask someone in the university for some help and got the warm response that they were glad to hear from me because Drago had recommended that we should get in touch. He worked so hard to make the department better, it is a terrible loss.
- Holly Rushmeier
I owe much of who I am to Drago. Not only did he see value in me when others didn’t see it, but he’s also been a wonderful friend, a supportive colleague, and an intellectually stimulating collaborator over the course of more than 20 years. He was a very creative and insightful NLP researcher, and a true ‘language geek’ who enjoyed going deep into linguistic phenomena, and learning or sharing interesting facts about languages. He touched the lives of so many, he leaves such a huge void behind.
- Rada Mihalcea
I am deeply shocked and saddened by the passing of Prof. Dragomir Radev. Drago hosted my faculty interview with Yale several years ago. I have been on academic market three times, and Drago is by far the kindest host. He gave me constructive advice and honest feedback in a very polite way, and even defended for me when his colleagues asked critical questions. I have fond memories of walking around the beautiful Yale campus with him. Drago is a great gentleman and wonderful researcher and mentor. This is such a huge loss for the NLP field. My sincere condolences to Drago’s family and academic family.
- Heng Ji
It's such sad news. I haven't met Professor Radev in person but only emailed him. Just from the email interaction, I can tell that he was a really kind person who would always support junior researchers. He responded my emails so promptly with heartfelt replies and useful information, and this definitely inspired me to do the same when there is a chance. He is a role model to so many of us and I hope we can pass on his kindness and knowledge to help more and more people.
- Weiyan Shi
I never had the opportunity to meet him in person or interact with him, and I regret that I will never have that chance now. However, he introduced me to the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) through his Coursera course, which I fully completed and thoroughly enjoyed. The course was exceptionally well-designed and provided a fantastic introduction to the field. It was one of the reasons why I decided to leave my job in India and pursue NLP in more detail, ultimately leading me to pursue a Ph.D. in the field. May he rest in peace.
- Siddharth Vashishtha
I would like to offer three memories:
1) when I was a new PhD and attended a conference in "upstate" NY, Drago - after our first meeting - offered me a lift back to the city. A wonderful friendly kind person.
2) Drago spent almost two years in my group at Yahoo. Not only did we do some innovative research together, but he was always a resource to the people in my (and other!) teams. Working with the New Yorker cartoons was a highlight.
3) One day Drago gathered all us fancy PhDs in NLP and ML together and gave us a set of NACLO questions. A leveling experience! I think NACLO is a fabulous initiative and know that Drago was at the center of it.
I also worked with Drago's daughter for a summer and my heart is full for his family. If I can be of any help, it would be my privilege.
- Amanda Stent
Drago has always been a tremendous role model for me. His success has been a great source of inspiration since my time as a graduate student. I was extremely fortunate to become a mentee, a colleague, and a co-author of his, and more importantly to call him a friend. In fact, he was the reason I applied to the faculty position at Michigan 15 years ago. I can still remember the day he called me from the airport, amidst his busy schedule traveling between Ann Arbor and New York, to help prepare me for the campus visit. So many memories from our time together are still vivid in my mind, such as co-teaching the first information retrieval course, co-writing my first NSF proposal, and co-writing my first paper at Michigan. I owe a great deal to his mentorship. The most valuable lessons I learned from Drago were to always face the challenges in work and life with the greatest optimism, and to have the courage to excel as a non-native scholar in the academic world. I am deeply saddened to have lost such a great mentor, but these lessons will continue to have a significant impact on my entire career and life.
- Qiaozhu Mei
I will miss Drago very much. He was warm, engaging, funny, wise, and everything one could ask for from a senior colleague. I feel privileged to have been his colleague for the last four years, and am poorer for the fact that it wasn't to be for longer. My warmest thoughts to his family.
- Abhishek Bhattacharjee
In 2016, Drago encouraged me to apply to Yale, even though I had never considered pursuing a Ph.D. at an Ivy League school. He was the only person who recognized my value and appreciated my passion and hard-working nature in the fields of information retrieval and language. Under his suggestion, I invited some of my best friends to give a talk at our lab, and now they are leading scientists at top-tier schools. Drago was a kind, intelligent, and generous person who even knew about my country's history, including the Shah and Iranian films that won Academy Awards. He trusted me to represent our lab and give presentations at key meetings, which helped me develop my confidence. In my eyes, he was a true scientist.
- Javid Dadashkarimi
This is so sad. I was shocked to hear of the passing of my good friend Drago Radev. Drago was extremely smart, knew everything about everything, and a really kind person. Even though we have not worked together, I always enjoyed taking to him at conferences. He will be missed.
- Dan Roth
I met Drago through the first Document Understanding Conferences in the early 2000s. Drago's work was always one all of us paid close attention to. His love of linguistics was a significant driver, but the need to please human information consumers was present in many of his ``first to do" achievements back then and in later years. I recall his warm and cheerful response when my colleagues and I invited him to give a talk at a workshop, where he said, “Of course!” I and many others will miss Drago’s warmth and cheer most of all.
- John M. Conroy
The news has been shocking. I had enrolled in Drago's NLP course at Yale. Drago was the sweetest person I'd met. He sincerely cared about his students outside of the classroom. He always brought energy and warmth to the classroom, which displayed how much he loved his research and teaching. I used to like having one-on-one chats with him after class. RIP Drago. Warmth to his family.
- Ketaki Joshi
I'm deeply saddened by the loss of Prof. Dragomir Radev. He was a kind man with a great sense of humour, an exceptional thinker and an inspiring teacher. I have fond memories of being a student in his NLP class and subsequently a Teaching Assistant for the same class – I learned so much from him in both capacities. I regret not staying in more regular contact with him over the past couple of years. Rest easy, Drago 🕊️
- Aditya Chander
This is such shocking news. Drago was a brilliant researcher and a wonderfully generous person. His enthusiasm for teaching and kindness were evident in the work he did with NACLO for so many years. I am extremely grateful for his encouragement and advice when we established the Australian OzCLO on the model of NACLO. And every time we met, we had an interesting conversation.
- Dominique Estival
I am so very sorry and quite frankly shocked to hear about Drago. My deepest and heartfelt condolences to his family! I first got to know Drago while he was finishing up his Ph.D. We became friends right away, collaborating intensively on many different projects. He was a man of many talents, brilliant as well as modest, able to contribute fundamentally to so many different areas, including automatic summarization, information extraction, text generation, and question answering, as well as much wider fields like information retrieval, social network analysis, citation analysis, and digital libraries. He was so much fun to work with, with tremendous positive energy and amazingly diverse interests! I found him to be smart, passionate and deeply curious, and also extremely productive, all characteristics that marked him out for a stellar career in science. He was also bold and unafraid to work on whatever sparked his interest, including caption generation for New Yorker cartoons, which I remember his telling me about enthusiastically when I visited him in Ann Arbor. We also got to socialize quite a bit. I recall sneaking off with him at a conference to go watch a French film, and hanging out with him in Bulgaria as well. He somehow managed to find the time to do everything, including a heroic amount of service to the research/ACL community as well as the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad, helping to spread the gospel of linguistics and computational linguistics to schools across the world! I felt honored to be able to help him with his job searches early in his career and later on managed to hire him to work with us at Yahoo. He was a splendid and inspiring person of great integrity who left a huge impact on everyone he met. He will be missed, and remembered fondly by us all. I think the community should collectively endow an award or scholarship in his name.
- Inderjeet Mani
Dragomir was an integral part of my academic journey and his guidance and support will always be remembered by me and many others who knew them. He made a strong and significant impact on the NLP research community and the lives of INSAIT researchers and students around the world. His dedication to his students and his research area was so unwavering, and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from him. Drago was more than just a tutor for me: He was a research father, a guide, and a friend. I knew few such great scientists, and he is definitely an example of a highly competent mentor with strong expertise.
- Kapchenko Nikita
Drago is one of the nicest and kindest people I've had the fortune of meeting. He has helped me in so many ways throughout my PhD at the University of Michigan and it's hard to believe that he is no more. Such a big loss for science and humanity.
- Lajanugen Logeswaran
I was about to email Drago a link to a legal NLP paper, and when I went to look up his current email address, much to my shock, I learned of his passing.
Everything I ever learned about NLP and automated summarization I learned from Drago. He was one of the reasons I joined the School of Information faculty at the University of Michigan 20 years ago. He was incredibly kind, thoughtful, and a true joy to have as a colleague. Had my research trajectory in patent informatics continued, I have no doubt that Drago would have been instrumental in its progress.
- Gavin Clarkson
Drago was truly one of a kind. I can't remember a situation in which interacting with Drago didn't make me feel better about myself. NLP is a field full with smart and compassionate people, but even among this bunch Drago really stood out. I will miss him deeply.
- Ves Stoyanov
The day after I completed my most recent paper with you, I was eagerly awaiting your usual email and feedback. To my great shock, I received the unexpected and sad news of your sudden passing. I went to your office at Yale to leave white lilies, which I believe symbolize the purity of your life-long commitment to mentorship, education, and research.
LILY (Language, Information, and Learning at Yale) is also the name of your NLP lab at Yale University. I am extremely fortunate to be part of the LILY lab since the beginning in Spring 2017. I still vividly remember the day I visited your office for the first time. At the time, I was in my senior year with almost no prior research experience. Despite this, you kindly offered to mentor me on my research project. After graduation, I sought your advice as to what I should do next. Soon after, you and Professor Bob Frank from Yale Linguistics very kindly secured funding and offered me a research assistant position. This experience became the foundation of my NLP research career. During my Ph.D. at the University of Washington, we continued to meet regularly and collaborate on many exciting projects.
Among many other things, your attitude towards research has always struck me as passionate and open-minded. The field of NLP has experienced many changes since I started. We used to talk a lot about building core NLP models using LSTMs. Now, we are seeing tremendous progress from large language models. You always showed great enthusiasm for the latest advancements and how they are transforming the way we approach NLP problems. Your passion for this field was contagious. You consistently encouraged me to be open to new ideas, even when I was skeptical or anxious about new directions. As you led by example, no matter how the field changes, researchers have a responsibility to demonstrate limitations and potentials of new technologies for society.
As one of the researchers who were extremely lucky to have you as an advisor, I feel obliged to pay it forward by continuing to support younger generations of scholars. Thank you so much for the amazing six years. May you find eternal rest and peace. ご冥福をお祈りいたします。
- Jungo Kasai
I'm so sad. Drago took me under his wing when I was an undergrad at Michigan in 2006 and taught me how to do research. His mentorship had a huge, huge impact on my life and career. He was such a welcoming and nice person... I'll miss him.
- Tony Fader
In 2019, Drago helped me edit the first paper I wrote on summarization, which was our first interaction. In 2020, I worked for Drago remotely in Singapore for around 6 months while I was an undergrad, and he was extremely supportive of my Ph.D. application. I remember replying to his email that I wanted to attend the Ph.D. information session he held, and he told me that he was going to hold another session specifically for students in Asia because of the time zone difference. While he was not sure if he could admit me back then, he gave me great school recommendations, which made sure I still had a great place to go even if I didn't make it to Yale.
Ever since I became Drago’s Ph.D. student and embarked on a new research topic, Drago has provided me with unwavering support and guidance, for which I will forever be grateful. Drago gave me extremely helpful advice and suggestions while I was getting to know the topic and working on the project. He brought to the project not only a lot of smart and hard-working undergraduate and master students but also experienced researchers that he knew from both academia and industry to help. Although I was only a junior researcher, Drago trusted me to lead a project of around 15 people. Drago gave me research resources and leadership training that I could not have obtained anywhere else.
Apart from work, he talked about his family during our individual meetings. There was once when he showed me an AI image generation tool that he was playing with together with his daughter. We also talked briefly about various interesting topics during individual meetings. Drago struck me as a humorous and fun person who could speak many languages, enjoyed interesting activities in NYC, and smiled when he saw a cute cat picture. I had always wanted to get to know more about him.
During a group lunch at Taste of China in New Haven, Drago mentioned that I was his 20th student. I will always cherish this memory and remember him as a remarkable academic dedicated to his field, but also a fun person with a passion for life. As his student, I will stay strong while carrying on his and finishing what Drago would hope to accomplish. My sincerest condolences and best wishes to his family.
- Simeng Han
I'm very lucky to work with Drago while he was visiting both Salesforce and MSR. From building NL2Vis engine to developing execution guided code generation techniques. Drago is such a kind, patient and experienced collaborator that for sure lights the path for us going forward.
- Chenglong Wang
I had the privilege of knowing Drago for many years, both professionally and as friends, also with his lovely wife Axinia.
I first came across his research in text generation and summarisation as a PhD student, when I came across his papers and began admiring his pioneering research over the years.
Then in 2003 we spent some time at a John Hopkins summer school, which left me with some wonderful memories.
Life since has been busy and challenging, but at Christmas or Easter we'd swap greetings with his family and it always felt special. I always meant to cross "the pond" and visit... now it's sadly too late. Your smile, kindness, and big heart will be missed!
Драго, светла ти памет! Почивай в мир!
- Kalina Bontcheva
I had the privilege of being a part of his first Yale classes, and the impact he's had on my career academically and professionally has been realized more and more each year. I appreciated how he tied his lectures to the world around us, and taught with a genuine joy for seeing his students push themselves to grasp difficult concepts in NLP and AI. To this day, any time someone mentions the game Othello/Go, I think back to his lectures.
- Kenneth Seals-Nutt '18
I'm yet to recover from the shock. Drago was my advisor at University of Michigan; I was his first Ph.D. advisee. He works harder than his doctoral students, but he's also the funniest person in the building. He brings laughter, energy, and intellect to people around him. Rest in peace, my mentor and my friend!
- Zhu (Drew) Zhang
Through his computer science course, I was introduced to the study of natural language processing at an exciting time in the field. He later welcomed me into his lab and showed me future paths in science research. From meeting him, I am inspired by how good a man could be and how much a professor can care for his students. May Drago rest in peace.
- David Peng
I first met Drago in the spring of 2016 in a natural language processing (NLP) course at Columbia University. He was still at the University of Michigan then, but he frequently flew between Ann Arbor and New York City. Moreover, he had studied under Kathy at Columbia, so he happened to teach at the university that semester. At the time, I was a master’s student in the first cohort of the Data Science Institute. Kathy asked Drago to offer this popular computer course to us. Without Drago’s and Kathy’s help, we would have found it hard to enroll in the class, and I would not have had most of the stories of the past eight years that involved NLP research, a Ph.D. in NLP, collaborative experience with many excellent researchers and mentors in this field whom I admire, and my current career as an NLP professor.
In that course, I first discovered the beauty of this applied computing discipline that I would always love. It became one of the few subjects that made me enjoy doing homework and feel excited. I still remember my excitement after staying up late to complete the Viterbi Algorithm and IBM Models and seeing experimental improvements. I did not feel tired at all. I even posted a status that expressed my hope of continuing to love NLP in the future. After class, I went to Drago's office hours to ask if I could do summer research with him. He said that he would spend most of the summer in Ann Arbor, and it would be too much trouble for me to go there. Why not find an NLP summer internship opportunity at Columbia? He enthusiastically introduced me to two other mentors, Owen and Kathy, who would help me a lot in the future as well.
Afterwards, I contacted Owen and Kathy, and fortunately, in the summer of 2016, I stayed at the school and worked full-time as an NLP research assistant under their guidance. That period became one of the happiest summers of my life, and I learned a lot while being fulfilled. It was also this research experience that Drago had introduced to me that made me decide to pursue a Ph.D., which I had never dared to consider before. During that time, Drago also had an NLP online course on Coursera, which became the enlightenment course for countless NLP beginners. I was lucky enough to be an online TA for that course that summer and felt his passion for and selflessness in sharing knowledge as a scholar.
I still remember the excitement and disbelief I felt when Drago emailed me in early 2017 to let me know that Yale, where he had just joined, would be offering me a Ph.D. admission in a few days. As my Ph.D. advisor, he directly influenced my final choice of research interests, which I have always loved: Semantic Parsing and Language Grounding. During my Ph.D. studies, he gave me a lot of research freedom and always encouraged and supported me. In the process of searching for faculty and postdoc positions, he actively recommended me to other colleagues and shared many valuable experiences with me. Even after I left the lab, he continued to keep an eye on my work and encouraged me, believing that I could do even better. If you knew his family, you would admire his endless love and devotion to his friends, students, and family even more.
Drago, I still remember the early summer after last year's graduation ceremony, which was delayed by Covid for a year. You and your wife Axinia took Rui, Alex, and me to one of your favorite brunch spots in Midtown Manhattan. The sunshine was so good that day, and we walked together slowly for a long time, crossing Fifth Avenue and Central Park, visiting the Zabar's supermarket you recommended, and finally walking far along the Hudson River's Riverside Park to near the Columbia campus. You talked to us a lot, and we were all a little surprised at your good energy after the long walk. I really hope we have a chance to walk together again…
In this unfortunate event, I am also fortunate to have talked to you last week about the recent developments in NLP and my own future research plans. Sadly, we will never see you again during our scheduled meetings on the calendar. Death is so mysterious and cruel, freezing your story and that of the other person at that moment.
Drago, I hope you find peace in heaven. We will always remember you. RIP!!!
- Tao Yu
I had the pleasure of working with Drago lately on a book project. This was a truly rewarding experience, and the memories and interactions we shared will be always cherished. I found him an amazing researcher and a wonderful person. Despite his demanding schedule, he always made himself available for those who needed his help. He will always be remembered.
- Davood Rafiei
I met Drago in 2003, a couple days after I arrived in Michigan as a PhD student from Turkey with little money and no financial aid. Drago took a chance on me and hired me. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for him.
Drago was extremely smart and hardworking, and led by example. He was an astonishingly productive researcher, but also somehow managed to keep up with popular culture more than anybody around him. Years would pass after my graduation, and I would receive an email from him about an obscure Turkish soccer team.
I am shocked and very saddened by his passing. I regret that I haven't reached out and thanked him as much as I should have over the years.
- Gunes Erkan
My first interaction with Drago was when I cold-emailed him for the first time maybe 17 or 18 years ago. He graciously responded, leading to a relationship that I will always cherish first as my Ph.D. advisor in Michigan and later as a mentor, a collaborator and a friend.
While I will always remember Drago as a brilliant researcher and teacher, I will remember him more as an amazing person.
Drago was always honest, trustworthy and the most helpful and generous person I have known professionally. I always admired his devotion to his family and his work. But perhaps most importantly, his unwavering kindness and helpfulness that never faltered no matter what challenges he was going through personally.
- Ahmed Awadallah
Professor Radev was a valuable member of my Ph.D. committee, and it was truly an honor to have him on board. His research work has had a profound impact on my career, and I am forever grateful for his contributions. Despite his busy schedule, I was amazed at how exceptionally considerate and patient he was with all the paperwork we had to deal with, and the reference letters I asked him for afterward. His passing has deeply saddened me, and I will always remember him as a kind, supportive, and inspiring person.
- Ahmed Elgohary
Drago was undoubtedly one of the best professors at Columbia and was a joyful presence with a perpetual smile on his face. He gave me the opportunity to TA his class and promptly responded to my request for reference letters to use on my green card application despite his busy schedule after he had moved to Yale. I incidentally had to forward the same letters to my lawyers the same day I got the sad news about him. I'll always remember his smiling face and am delighted to read all the warm messages folks have written about him here and on Twitter. I remember him sharing a video of the office building where I work once on Facebook and had messaged him offering him to show it in person if he was ever in the Bay Area. I'm really disappointed I never got the opportunity. You'll be dearly missed Drago! <3
- Amit Ruparel
The OzCLO (Australian Computational & LInguistics Olympiad) committee members were saddened and shocked by the news of Drago's passing. Not only did he help set up the Australian competition but he continued supporting us right up to the rounds only completed in March this year. Thanks to Drago's vision, diligence, & organizational skill, ELCLO came into being whereby all English-speaking Olympiads share problem sets, initiatives and advice. Drago was truly the heart and soul of ELCLO, curating our problem sets, keeping us all on time with his friendly reminders. Although I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, his warmth and generosity came across in our many email exchanges. Our deep condolences to his family and colleagues. We truly miss him.
- Mary Laughren
Where is, where is my dear friend?
To other universe he went for lent?
In other universe he pants a tree
In a dimension we can't see?
I wonder if he's teaching there
Linguistics or computer science fare?
One thing I know - I'll go to bed
With emptiness. I am so sad.
But folks in other universe -
For them is blessing what for us is curse.
They will enjoy his joyful smile
And walk with him, mile after mile.
They'll laugh with him, enjoy a meal
And have with him all kid of thrills.
Goodnight, my dear lovely friend.
I know our friendship's not at end.
It will endure while I'm here.
I'll carry it with me as if you're near.
After our first 40, I'll count every year,
As memories of you will readily appear.
- Anton Kuzmanov
He was a wonderful mentor - we met at the University of Michigan School of Information. I was a grad student missing linguistics (my undergraduate minor) with an eye on marketing so I joined as a local organizer. He was chairing the NACLO - it was a match made in heaven! I enjoyed our time together and working with the students and I even got to proctor an exam. He was so wonderful to me, and a brilliant man. I will miss him forever!
- Alina J Johnson
The news that Prof. Dragomir Radev has passed away is devastating. While the world lost an outstanding scientist, I lost my first mentor that got me into NLP. 8 years ago at UMich, Drago accepted me, a freshman who didn't even know what 'NLP' stands for, into the lab. He provided me with opportunity and guidance that a junior like me couldn't dream having. Drago might be the only professor that would have me sit next to him in his office and teach me basic Linux commands for half an hour. He would walk with me to his next appointment while introducing ongoing NLP research for another. I visited Drago after graduation in 2019, and invited him to give a talk at Penn in 2020. I was determined to visit him at Yale soon, but was thwarted by the pandemic. Now I won't have the chance to do so. I will always remember Drago as one of the most inspiring figure in my career, and the extraordinary educator that he was.
- Li Zhang
I was incredibly saddened to learn of Prof. Radev's passing. He was a bright light in the CS department, never hesitating to celebrate and share in the delight of someone else's achievements. Despite his busy schedule, he always made time to speak warmly to me and answered my questions on NLP both clearly and kindly, which made a huge impression on me. Prof. Radev encouraged me to continue my studies in CS despite my disability which was heavily impacting my life at the time. He truly embodied the word "inspirational". He was and continues to be a part of the soul of the CS department. Thank you so much for everything.
- KZ
Professor Radev was an exceptional researcher and my mentor at Salesforce. He had a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of natural language processing, and he generously shared his expertise with me as we worked together.
I greatly appreciated his guidance and insights on the UnifiedQA project we collaborated on. He always had a thoughtful approach to problem-solving and helped me refine my research ideas and strategies. He was a patient and encouraging mentor, always taking the time to explain complex concepts in a way that was accessible and understandable.
I was deeply saddened to learn of his passing, and I know that his loss will be felt deeply by his family, colleagues, and the entire research community. He leaves behind an incredible legacy of research, mentorship, and kindness, and he will be greatly missed.
- Ye Liu
I knew Rado since 1982 at Sofia Math High-school where we wrote our first programs together in Apple ][ assembler. He's the most successful researcher I know personally and a great guy. We reconnected in 2022 through his advisor role at the Bulgarian INSAIT institute and shared some great ideas about NLP and Knowledge Representation. Blessed be your soul!
- Vladimir Alexiev
I met professor Radev in 2019 and had the pleasure of bumping into him in Silliman Dining hall a few times before the pandemic. I didn't have any classes with him, but we ended up getting lunch a few times. I remember him as a kind conversationalist and nice man, and I am very saddened to hear this news.
- Chase
I'm grateful for the knowledge that he shared through his NLP courses. He inspired many talented scientists and he didn't only taught NLP but also to be kind and compassionate.
- Mehmet
I shared an office with him when he taught at Columbia as a visiting professor, and we spent a lot of time talking together. He was such a dear and hard-working person. I kept my contact with him when he moved to Yale. I am so sorry to hear of his passing. He will definitely be missed. My heartfelt condolences go out to his wonderful family and the scientific community.
- Homayoon Beigi
I'm in such a shock to hear about Prof Radev's passing that I don't know what to say. I visited his class a few weeks ago during Faculty Bulldog Day. I enjoyed the lecture of Natural Language Processing so much, and after the class, I had to ask him to let me come back to join the next class, because I had to hear what he was going to discuss next (and I did go back to his class again!) I was so looking forward to learning more from the professor. Thank you, Professor Radev, for reignizing my desire to learn as a student.
- Kay Nakamura
Drago was the kindest, most generous person you could ever meet, so generous with his time and expertise despite being in the middle of so many difficult yet fruitful projects. My wife and kids and I will never forget him.
- Mick McQuaid
I had only fairly recently met Professor Radev, through my work with the Roberts Innovation Fund. Throughout the application process, I looked forward to my scheduled calls with him because he was so energizing, brilliant and delightful to speak with. He was one of the very first awardees for the fund, and we are all deeply saddened and shocked by this loss. My deepest sympathies to his family, friends and all who knew him.
- Claudia Reuter
Few people leave the legacy that Professor Radev has left. Beyond his work, skills, and intellect, the rarer legacy is the testament of how his personal qualities affected others so profoundly, intimately, and personally. The eloquent and passionate words of those who were part of his life—family, friends, colleagues, and some who encountered him only briefly—prove his love and commitment to other individuals and his effect on them, now indelibly recorded. He will live through these words and memories.
I did not meet this extraordinary man but now feel I do. I thank Prof. Radev for changing our world, and you for letting the world know.
- Richard A. Cirillo
I had the pleasure of getting to work and know Drago in the context of INSAIT, a new institute on AI/Computer Science founded in Bulgaria in 2022. When founding the institute, the first person I thought about to head the Advisory Board was Drago, due to his ties to the country, impeccable world-class scientific record and overall integrity and reputation. Drago immediately accepted the role even though he was extremely busy: he deeply cared about helping people and making sure things are done properly, and he cared about helping his native country.
Over the last few years, Drago and I would frequently discuss different aspects of the institute, in fact our last discussion was on the day he passed: his suggestions were always on point, valuable and carefully thought out. To the very end, he didn't miss a single faculty hiring talk, even though it was exceedingly difficult for him to juggle all responsibilities. Drago was extremely dependable in anything he did: whatever task we agreed on, I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore as I knew Drago would do it perfectly.
Drago was a warm, honest, wonderful human being who deeply cared about others in every detail, a giant of a scientist and a titan in his area, absolutely precise in all details, who brought with him a mountain of experience and legitimacy to anything he was involved with. I am so glad I had the opportunity to meet and learn from Drago, he was truly exceptional, and he made all of us better. Rest in piece Drago, I will miss you, but rest assured that we will do everything possible to finish what we started in a way you would be proud of.
- Martin Vechev
Drago and I met almost 40 years ago and it was a "click" from the beginning. He fascinated me with his knowledge, his broad interests, his sence of humor but most importantly his passion to share all that with others. He enjoyed music, movies, literature, mathematics, chemistry, biology... everything. He had passion for languages. Once, when I visitted him and his family in NY we were in the subway and we saw some instrucions in Japanese. Drago looked at them carefully and then took notes. On my question why did he did that, he replied that he would make a new puzzle for his Linguistic team based on those instructions. Several years later we met in Ljujbljana (Slovenia) and he had a leaflet with some commercials he had read in the plane. He had so many questions about meaning of the words, grammar... and he came to those questions on the flight from Munich! Probably all that turned to the next quizz. Natural curiosity was always there with him! Walking on the streets of Ljubljana was our last time spent together. We missed other opportunities over the years. We often talked on the phone and said: "Ok! Next time!" Just like there were unlimited number of opportunities... but there were not. I miss you, my friend! As we used to sing sometimes, a long time ago: "How I wish, how I wish you were here! We are just lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year. Running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears. I wish you were here!
- Ivaylo Elenkov
I met Drago when we started studying together at the Technical University of Sofia in autumn of 1988. I was incredibly impressed by his outstanding intelligence and heartwarming kindness. A wonderful friend. Rest in peace, Drago!!!
- Valeri Pavlov
Drago was such a kind and generous person. He acknowledge the contributions of staff and made my presence feel valued and welcomed in Computer Science. Each year small gifts were left for staff to show his appreciation. Because we shared a love of all things trivia he shared his membership to LearnedLeague with me and thus began a fun and entertaining relationship outside of Yale that I will always cherish. He was generous in many other ways and I am sincerely heartbroken that he was taken from us all so soon and that future scholars will not benefit from his brilliance. My thoughts are with his wife and daughters.
- Sabrina Whiteman
Prof Radev was one of the gentlest people I have met. Just a few weeks ago, I ran into him at shake shack, enjoying a nice conversation with his dad. He still took the time to greet me, introduce me to his dad, and chat about research, life, and everything in between. Really just the same kind of encounter as I always had with him.
- Karthik Sriram
Drago was exceptional. I took his Information Retrieval class by chance at Michigan and it was by far my favorite class because Drago made the subject so interesting and was able to teach such a broad range of topics in one semester. I then became involved in NACLO, where I saw firsthand how much Drago cared about getting kids interested in linguistics and how incredibly generous he was with his time, especially given the breadth of his responsibilities. He was always an email away to offer guidance, help with job connections, and to just check-in occasionally about life. A brilliant teacher and wonderful man. Drago, you are missed so much, and my thoughts go out to your family, friends, colleagues, and students. You have made a forever-lasting impact on so many of us and are an example of how to live.
- Ali Sharman
I first met Drago when preparing for the International Linguistics Olympiad in 2018. He had by then already been an influence in my life for years: through his work with NACLO, by working to organize and present linguistics in an accessible and engaging way for high school students, Drago brought countless young people to the field, and through his work in NLP he showed us what linguistics could do in the real world. Meeting Drago in person, I learned that he was not only brilliant and hardworking but also down-to-earth, eager to know every student, and truly a pleasure to be around. In years since my IOL experience I have continued to look to Drago as an example of how a great scholar can also be a good person. I am deeply saddened by his passing, and I would like to extend my condolences to his family and his wide community of friends, colleagues, and students.
- BL
Drago started the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad when I was a senior in high school and convinced me to participate in the International Olympiad in Linguistics, which was one of the most important experiences in my life---a decade and a half later, participating in the IOL is one of my best memories, half a dozen of my friends are people who went to the IOL, and I still help out a little with the NACLO. I'm just one of thousands of students who do the contests, and that was only one of the many great works of Drago's---his life made the world a much better place.
- Adam Hesterberg
In 2006, NSF program manager Tatiana Korelsky offered to provide seed funding to anyone in the US who wanted to start a linguistic Olympiad in the style of the competitions that had been held in Russia and other countries since 1965. She said that several countries were competing internationally and that the US should be involved. I immediately agreed to organize a workshop for planning what eventually became NACLO (the North American Computational Linguistics Open competition). Drago, with his way of knowing everything happening in NLP, heard about the workshop somehow and emailed me and said that he would be there no matter what. At the workshop, we discovered our joint passion for bringing the joy of problem solving to young people interested in linguistics and NLP. (Of course many other people who shared our passion were there. Sorry I can't mention everyone here.)
NACLO is now seventeen years old. Drago poured his heart into it as the problem chair, responsible for the content of the contest and the logistics of pulling it off every year, reaching around 1500 middle school and high school students each year. He traveled with the US and Canadian teams (the winners of NACLO) to the International Linguistics Olympiad every year from 2007 to 2019, touching the lives of more than 100 team members as a coach and chaperone. Laura came along on many of the trips. I picture Drago and Laura laughing on tour buses, playing Contact and other word games with the team members. He was never more alive than when interacting with young people and took great joy in inspiring them.
Everyone at IOL will remember Drago's quiz game in the style of Jeopardy, which became an IOL centerpiece in 2011. The annual quiz game was a work of genius and I don't think anyone can replace Drago in organizing it. I have some beautiful photos of Drago and Laura running the game together, and I will always remember Drago that way, so happy and giving so much of himself.
Drago's death was a terrible shock and I am deeply saddened and feel the loss keenly.
NACLO will continue under the leadership of the co-chairs (me and Aleka Blackwell), program chair Tom McCoy, Anglo Canadian chair Daniel Lovsted, and many other volunteers (sorry I am not mentioning you all by name!).
I am so very sorry to hear that Drago has passed. I was his research administrator in CSE at University of Michigan for a number of years. He was always a pleasure to work with, and was very patient and kind with me as I was just starting out in the field. When he moved to Yale, I was excited for his new opportunity but very sad to see him go. My thoughts are with Drago's family.
- Kimberly Mann
PROFESSOR RADEV WAS THE NICIEST PERSON EVER SEEN. I'M HIS DAUGHTER'S NURSE BUT HE TREATED ME LIKE A FAMILY. I ATE WHAT HE ATE. HE LET ME HAVE EVERYTHING IN THE HOUSE AT MY DISPOSAL. MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PERFECT PEACE.
- COMFORT BOAMPONG
In memory of Drago, a friend and professor,
Whose passing left us feeling quite lesser,
We bid farewell to a man of great insight,
Whose love for language burned ever so bright.
His knowledge of linguistics was immense,
And his passion for words made perfect sense,
He taught about computers, and more,
And showed the depth of what words have in store.
He was a man with a heart of gold,
Whose kindness and love were never sold,
A friend to many, a father to some,
His absence leaves us feeling numb
- Atanas Goranov
Drago was beloved by his students because he showed us in so many small ways that he cared about us.
I once went with him to a research meeting at another university. He said he’d reimburse the cost of my lunch, but since it only ended up being about five dollars, I told him not to worry about it. Well, Drago mailed me a check – for five dollars.
To someone of my generation, mailing a check is a burdensome thing to do. The fact that he kept such an insignificant promise meant a great deal to me.
- Kathan Roberts
I am going to miss Drago very much. To a large extent, it is thanks to him that I found my profession: Along with Lori Levin and other volunteers, he introduced me to linguistics via NACLO, a contest that he co-founded and tirelessly promoted. His warmth and enthusiasm got me excited about the field as a high school student, and I have continued to pursue that field ever since - in college, in graduate school, and (starting next year) as a professor.
He was an incredibly supportive mentor. At every important milestone in my career, Drago was there with a friendly message of congratulations, encouragement, or commiseration.
He had a goofy sense of humor that I always enjoyed. Once, someone named Bernard emailed the NACLO organization's email list but hit "send" too early, so that the whole email read "Dear sir or madam." Without missing a beat, Drago replied, "Dear Bernard."
I always enjoyed chatting with Drago because his excitement about his interests was contagious. I have fond memories of conversations about developments in AI, cross-linguistic variation in crossword puzzles, and students whose projects he was proud of.
Above all, he was a kind and generous person. I am deeply grateful for how devoted he was to supporting others - that dedication has had an enormous positive effect on my life and on the lives of countless other students. My deepest condolences go to his family.
- Tom McCoy
In 2014, when I was a junior at Michigan with no experience and knowledge about NLP, you replied almost immediately to my email to start NLP research. You engaged me in interesting projects, introduced me in front of other students and professors, got excited about every little progress I made, and called me to send congratulations on the phone when I was admitted to PhD. You bring many people together, and it was through you that I knew so many other friends and mentors.
In 2016, you told me during a meeting about your family status and your decision to transfer to Yale. I just got aware that you had a huge family responsibility in addition to your academic commitment.
In 2019, when we discussed my plan after graduation, you keep encouraging me to go for a faculty job, even though I didn't have much confidence in myself. You helped me at every stage of my job search, and gave me information about the location and life of different places.
In 2020, after I took my position as faculty, you still offered your help with course preparation and grant application. After experiencing academic life, I appreciated much more deeply how you helped me and many other people. My entire career is a gift from you.
In 2022, I went back to Yale to attend my commencement that was delayed by two years. It was a long ceremony, and you insisted on waiting for me to join the lunch with other lab members. We took so many pictures together in the most beautiful moment of Yale campus. Later on Sunday, you took Tao, Alex, and me to walk across Manhattan for miles, showing us the view of Hudson River in Riverside Park. It was a beautiful day. We talked about my family, your favorite drama series, my academic ancestry that confused me for a long time, the difference in railways between Long Island and Metro North, soccer, and many many other things. I just realized that this is probably your way of saying goodbye to us.
Drago, you are forever my research advisor and life inspiration.
- Rui Zhang
I'd like to share a memory of Drago. First, I want to say that when I think of Drago, I think of his incredible supportiveness to his family. He and Axinia have had to go far and above what others have had to go through to care for their children. I'd like to share a specific memory though, about his work on the International Linguistics Olympiad. A long time ago, Axinia told me that he was helping with this, and I got interested in what it was - I had never heard of it. So I downloaded a bunch of the puzzles. I realized very quickly that these puzzles were not what I expected. They were beautiful logic puzzles that involved interesting linguistic themes. I also figured out that Drago's puzzles were the most elegant out of all the puzzles - so perfectly pieced together that I would admire the beauty of those puzzles while solving them. It really gave me an insight into Drago's incredibly creative mind and his eye for beauty in these puzzles. The world needs more people like Drago. We will miss him so much.
- Cynthia Rudin
Drago was a wonderful person, an amazing researcher, and an incredible member of the community. It was always such a pleasure to meet him and talk to him. He was very inspirational. He will be hugely missed.
- Cecile Paris
Very sad to learn of Drago’s passing. He was a wonderful collaborator and an inspiration for both colleagues and many students. Drago played a key role in bringing natural language processing into bioinformatics at the University of Michigan and made many contributions to the program. His energy and enthusiasm will be greatly missed.
- David States
I am currently his Daughter's bus Driver. I met Drago last year when picking Victoria up. I had the pleasure of seeing him a couple of times a week, and how proud he was of Vicky. It was a love you can see and feel that he had for her. His energy was always so positive, and interactions with him had such good energy. I never knew the last time I saw him would be the last time I saw him. My heart goes out to his wife and girls, and I know he's watching down on us from Heaven. He will be greatly missed!
- Michael Chue
Dear friends and family members, we regret we won’t be able to attend the memorial service, but we would like to share our deepest sympathy for the loss of Drago and to join you in commemorating his respectable life. We’ve met Drago and family while they lived in Ann Arbor and Drago was a faculty at the U of M. He was an extremely positive and knowledgeable person with unique passion for learning new things and helping others with anything in his power. His very presence filled up the room like a sunshine. Drago was a very modest, down to earth and friendly person and the heart of the Bulgarian community’s social life in Ann Arbor. God took him too early but for all of us who loved him as a friend and a father and a husband the word is: “Drago is no longer in the past – he now lives in the future”. May God bless his soul!
- Valentina and Emmanuel Kamberov
I left Yale a happy and a college graduate deeply satisfied by and thankful for my time there -- in greater part due to Drago's presence and mentorship.
Though I had somehow avoided meeting him in person and for collaboration in my initial years, despite majoring in CS and Linguistics and my newfound interest in NLP, in the end he proved to be one of my most valuable mentors and supporters. I first took one of his courses at Yale as a seasoned senior, but Drago's unwavering, unconditional commitment to supporting his peers and students was not lost on me. He took me in from day one, and became a guide during huge life shifts that I was about to encounter.
Mere months into our acquaintance, at his enthusiastic encouragement, I decided to pursue research beyond college, and apply to graduate schools. He so kindly jumped on the opportunity to provide me with letters of recommendation, guidance on the application process, honest conversations about the paths ahead of me in academia, and so on.
I don't think it's in any way a coincidence that, because he was so important in my most formative moments in life (and when I was, at times, at my lowest in spirit), I find myself feeling at home in two places he himself called home: Yale, and the University of Michigan's School of Information (and CSE, Linguistics), where he was an invaluable faculty member for 17 years.
I have Drago to thank for so many of the great opportunities I've gotten in life, and his sudden passing came as an immense shock to me - in my mind, he was someone one could call on any time of day or year, for any reason, and be met with open arms.
I hope to do his memory justice and uphold his legacy as part of the large community he called his friends, students, collaborators, peers, family.
Drago's cheerfulness, striking optimism, deep and wide knowledge about anything and everything, and passion for learning and collaboration will remain with me as my core motivators for the rest of my life. I've been proud to call him a role model, and continue to do so.
My condolences and shared sorrow are with his family and everyone whose life is similarly less bright after his passing.
- Hana Galijasevic
Drago,
It has been many days since I learned that you are gone, and I have been thinking about you this whole time. There are so many things I wanted to tell you. I wanted to finish our conversation of March 25 when you were busy with Victoria and we had to interrupt it. And I still haven’t seen the latest links you sent me. I have just been watching your videos and lectures. You know, I never told you, but I always admired your ability to change the lives of so many people. You have such an inspiring attitude to life. I only know a fraction of what you have done, and I am still amazed. How do you do it? How do you help so many people, and stay positive with all the unthinkable tragedies in your life? I have so much to learn form you. Dani noticed how unique you are the very first time she met you at the New Year’s party at your place. You have always had a special place in her heart since then. She misses you so much… I can’t explain it.
When you told me you thought you would probably leave us, I couldn’t accept it. And I still can’t. Was there no other way? You are better now than ever, in every aspect of life. And we need you. But I understand that you had no choice, and if you could, you would have stayed with us. Indeed, you will be with us forever.
I am re-living the many memories of ours over the years, like when we walked around Manhattan one day, or when we went to the beach. We saw many interesting movies together. I want to do it again.
It’s dull here now. I wish you would call me while driving from the airport or while shopping, as you did so many times with your busy schedule. Who would have known it, that our lives would become so intertwined that I can’t imagine not hearing your voice over the phone again! I have to figure out some way to talk to you. I keep thinking, it’s interesting how we were connected from before we were even born, nearly 110 years ago when my grandmother went shopping in your great-great grandfather’s store in Drianovo. Then, in Sofia we lived across each other without knowing it. We met in Maine, where we studied together, and then we studied together at Columbia, and have been sharing our lives for 30-some years. It has been such a remarkable journey. I know that a friendship like this lasts forever.
I’ll be seeing you!
- Stefan
Drago came to work with me at AT&T Bell Labs for two consecutive summers while a Ph.D. student at Columbia University. We had the best time working together, staying late at work and then driving back to New York at night.
Drago was kind, funny, motivated, and very smart. He loved guessing the etymology of proper names and we enjoyed the discussions about cinema and the arts. Drago went on to achieve so much in the field, which was not surprising since he was creative and solid in his thinking and very skilled in solving problems. Drago was universally well-liked.
I will deeply miss him.
- Evelyne Tzoukermann
I never met Dragomir, but we communicated over email for many years in his role with NACLO and my role overseeing all the Olympiads for MIT Admissions. From those interactions, his dedication and his joy for the NACLO students shone through brilliantly, and I know from my personal interactions with the many NACLO alumni at MIT how beloved he was. He personally changed the trajectory of so many students through his mentorship, advocacy, and service. I am shocked and dismayed to hear of his passing, and I want to send condolences and best wishes to his family on behalf of everyone at MIT Admissions.
- Chris Peterson
Most of us who were acquainted with Drago, have always known that he is a great scientist and a remarkable teacher. The numerous memories and accolades shared by his advisors, colleagues and students are a testimony to that. Nobody better than Asia, Lora and Victoria can speak about his caring nature and dedication as a loving husband and father.
Like other great people, Drago's greatness has many aspects and I am dedicating this memory to his endless desire to help and nurture, to share and inspire.....Many many moons ago - there was a bunch of us - a kaleidoscope of different Bulgarian students with various ambitions, interests, personalities and peculiarities(!), studying at various universities and trying to learn how to better the world around us. No matter where we were coming from, for how long, or for what reason, we knew that if we needed a place to stay or somebody to talk to in NYC, there was this legend - Drago - who we can always go to...even if we did not know him - we have heard of him and that was enough to be welcome to his place and to be included in his ever-growing circle of friends....Thank you, Drago! Your legacy will live for ever!
- Galia Varadzhakova
I have very fond memories meeting Drago through NACLO and IOL back in 2010, and I am glad to have kept in touch with him since then. Despite his many commitments, he has always been generous with his time. For example, he offered advice when I was applying for academic positions this year, which helped me feel more relaxed during the stressful period of job applications. I am so sad to hear about his passing. My deepest condolences to his family.
- Alan Chang
I was deeply saddened to learn that Mr. Radev had passed away. As Laura and Vicky’s pediatrician, I never got to know him as the brilliant researcher, mentor, and professor that many of you have described. Instead, the side of him that I knew was of an incredibly devoted husband and father who loved his family unconditionally. Vicky was often my last patient of the day, and I looked forward to my end-of-day chats with Mr Radev. We talked about family, marriage, career paths, travel, work-life balance. Throughout our conversations, it was clear how much he and Mrs Radev were life partners who absolutely adored each other no matter how much stress they were under. He was so proud of Laura - her brilliant mind (so like his own) but also her ferocious determination to live the life she wanted according to her values and principles. I loved getting to see her and learn more about Laura through his eyes. Vicky and he had such a bond too- her eyes would light up instantly and she would break out into giggles whenever he entered the room. I’m going to miss him!
- Ivanya Alpert
We were both foreign students in Maine. Both coming from Europe.
He was a French speaking fellow.
Such a good man.
I visited him and Axinia in New York. Axinia, I remember your baklawas. This was so perfect.
I remember Drago visiting me in Paris.
Such great times together.
Today, I wrote to Drago on his LinkedIn page. Then I scrolled his profile on this app. And I learned the worst.
Axinia, if you read me and need anything I can do, please let me know.
Today, I'm so sad.
Rest in peace Drago.
You were my friend
- François Ollivary
Just heard about this terrible news of Drago’s passing away. He was my Doctoral Committee member and provided many thoughtful suggestions and comments to improve upon my work on complex question answering. He felt very sad as he could not join my thesis defense in person, but was deeply engaged throughout the entire event via online.
Later on, we worked closely on the NACLO Olympiad question bank preparation. We used to chat often over email throughout my entire career journey and he gave so many meaningful career advice to me that I would cherish forever. He was the one who indirectly convinced me to move to Boston when I shared with him about my career opportunity in Boston, which was one of the best decisions I have ever made in life. I regret the fact that I was not able to meet him in person and missed him couple times when he was in Boston.
Drago was my north star in the field of NLP and the field will never be the same without him.
Thank you Drago for everything, I will miss you!
- Sadid Hasan
In planning my education at Yale, Drago encouraged me to learn Python. It helped me get a job. Drago influenced my life choices for the better and enhanced my outcomes. Thank you, Drago.
- Ryan Barrett
Very sad to see this, with an extreme delay. Untimely death of a great human being! When I first came to the US some 30 years ago, in the early days of the internet, with Gopher etc, an online community of Bulgarian students abroad, soc.culture.bulgaria was my daily go-to place. Drago was instrumental in setting this up, engaging relentlessly all of us, being a leader, a key contributor, a kind, and erudite friend, and making it a place of memorable discussions on culture, politics, poetry, science, memories of back home. We were graduate students with ambitions, and he was a role model in every sense, to all of us. I followed and admired his scientific achievements early on; we shared an alma mater – the Technical University in Sofia, and I was proud of him and his accomplishments. From the shared memories here, it looks like he touched so many lives. My heart goes to his wife and daughters.
- Emilia Entcheva
One year has passed, yet your absence still feels unreal. Every moment, your presence is felt, a reminder of the love and light you brought into our lives. You remain my other half, forever cherished and deeply missed.
Not a day goes by without feeling the echo of your laughter, the warmth of your embrace, and the depth of your love. Your essence lingers in every corner of our lives, woven into the fabric of our memories and the essence of our being.
Though we cannot hold you in our arms, your love continues to surround us, comforting us in our sorrow and inspiring us to live each day with purpose and gratitude.
