During the first half of the nineties I studied design as a student of the Academy of Visual Arts in Cluj Napoca (Cluj Napoca being an old city in Transylvania, the north-western part of Romania -- as a matter of fact, one of the Academy's buildings was raised before 1450) together with my good friends Camil (aka Rasterpoint) and Ovidiu (of Hedvertising fame).

There were some pretty chaotic years, in a country still trying to figure out what freedom was.

Anyway. In the Academy, the computer lab was guarded by a Graphics Faculty professor -- Mircea Baciu -- the first Apple Macintosh freak I have ever met (I still remember his LC II with a 20-inch monitor) but I was too young to understand what's all about. He was a cool, laid back guy in his mid-forties, who used to encourage his students to experiment with computers, copiers and mixed techniques. In a time when professors did not really used to encourage students to experiment with computers...

He was a really experienced graphic designer and I learned a lot from him by chatting about this and that, you know, things you cannot learn otherwise. I often watched him working. Stealing his secrets.

I found out today that Mircea Baciu died. And I felt like I needed to remember him. RIP, dear professor.