This volume is devoted to the life and work of the applied mathematician Professor Erhard Meister (1930-2001). He was a member of the editorial boards of this book series Operator The­ ory: Advances and Applications as well as of the journal Integral Equations and Operator Theory, both published by Birkhauser (now part of Springer-Verlag). Moreover he played a decisive role in the foundation of these two series by helping to establish contacts between Birkhauser and the founder and present chief editor of this book series after his emigration from Moldavia in 1974. The volume is divided into two parts. Part A contains reminiscences about the life of E. Meister including a short biography and an exposition of his professional work. Part B displays the wide range of his scientific interests through eighteen original papers contributed by authors with close scientific and personal relations to E. Meister. We hope that a great part of the numerous features of his life and work can be re-discovered from this book.