Ģirts Vulfs, Professor in Operations Research and long-time Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Riga Technical University, passed away on 31 August 2016. Throughout this career at the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, prof. Vulfs recognised the importance of making ever more complex computing technologies attainable by their users and using information technology to solve real-life problems in the business and societal context. This dedication reviews his lifestory through the prism of his contribution to establishing Information Technology (IT) as an academic field in Latvia