On June 18, Nikolay Shmelev, who passed away almost two years ago, would have celebrated his 80th birthday. The grief of the loss continues to stay with his dear ones, friends, readers and colleagues. Kolya (more than fifty years of our friendship give me the liberty to call him so) was a unique representative of the “Sixties generation”, who lived long enough to witness perestroika and was one of those who preserved his ideals until the end of his life. Almost uniquely, he did not concede to the lure of market economy and did not embark upon the ruinous way of acquisitiveness and vanity.