IJAHP: Mu/ Tom Saaty’s spirit is alive in his personal archive International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process 410 Vol. 13 Issue 3 2021 ISSN 1936-6744 https://doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v13i3.954 TOM SAATY’S SPIRIT IS ALIVE IN HIS PERSONAL ARCHIVE While preparing this IJAHP issue for publication, I received an email from Rozann Saaty, Tom’s widow and collaborator, to inform me that the hundreds of papers and notes from Tom’s lifetime of work had been organized and were ready to be moved to their final home at the University of Pittsburgh, where Tom worked the last part of his life. Rozann’s news and her invitation to show me Tom’s private collection of papers was irresistible, and I quickly went to her home to admire Tom’s collection of papers and mementos that were neatly arranged in a big room in the house. What was particularly interesting was the thoroughness of Tom’s notes. At a time when handwriting was the common form of taking notes and putting down ideas, and fountain pens were the standard writing tool, his notes were very neatly made and only had a few scratches and corrections. Also, it was possible to follow the development of his ideas, through the different notes and papers that led to the creation of his magnum opus, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and later its generalization, the Analytic Network Process (ANP). I had the fortune of having an office almost across the hall from Tom’s at the University of Pittsburgh and his door was always open and he was always eager to engage in intellectual conversations. He usually carried pieces of paper with some notes in his pocket. He would use these notes when we would talk about diverse topics such as the major crises the world would face or the lamb menu for the day at the Middle Eastern restaurant across from our building. It was obvious that he kept these notes with great care. Finally, it was also nice to remember Tom, the man, through an exploration of his life as a boy and young man through the pictures of himself and his family. Tom was born in Mosul, Iraq, where he grew up before coming to the U.S. to study at different high-level institutions until he obtained his PhD in Mathematics from Yale University in 1953. After graduation, he worked for fifteen years for the U.S. government where he realized there was a need for a new decision-making methodology that would be both so easy and rigorous that “my grandmother in Iraq could understand and my Yale thesis Collection of Tom’s papers Tom on the ISAHP2007 poster (his creativity book is visible at bottom right) More of Tom’s papers IJAHP: Mu/ Tom Saaty’s spirit is alive in his personal archive International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process 411 Vol. 13 Issue 3 2021 ISSN 1936-6744 https://doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v13i3.954 advisor would accept it as mathematically valid” (in his own words, according to my recollection). In 1969, he joined the faculty of the Wharton Business School’s Graduate Groups of Operations Research and Social Systems Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania where he developed the AHP/ANP methodology in the 1970s. After ten years there, he moved to the University of Pittsburgh, Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, where he held the chair of Distinguished University Professor at the time of his death in 2017. I was fortunate to meet him in 1996 while I was a visiting lecturer at the Katz Graduate School of Business and he recruited me into his work and vision for better decision-making in the world. Family photos. Bottom center, Tom Saaty as a young man I feel indebted to Rozann Saaty, president of the Creative Decisions Foundation and a key member of our IJAHP editorial team for the opportunity to peek into this treasure trove of Tom’s documents. As a result of this visit, I feel more energized to continue Tom’s work to improve decision making in the world. Enrique Mu and Rozann Saaty at the end of the visit IJAHP: Mu/ Tom Saaty’s spirit is alive in his personal archive International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process 412 Vol. 13 Issue 3 2021 ISSN 1936-6744 https://doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v13i3.954 Speaking of the world, this final issue for 2021 includes research articles from different regions of the world and covers a wide variety of topics ranging from the sustainable development of the gem industry in Brazil to financial decisions made by young adults in North Macedonia, among many others. Also, this issue includes a report on the AHP/ANP track presentations at INFORMS 2021 by track chairs Birsen Karpak and Antonella Petrillo and the announcement of the 26 th MCDM conference at the University of Portsmouth, UK, from June 26 to July 1, 2022 . In addition, there is a book review of Tom’s posthumous publication Overcoming the retributive nature of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict written with his collaborators H. J. Zoffer, Luis G. Vargas and Amos Guiora. Finally, this issue concludes with an essay by Hannia Gonzalez-Urango from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, about How the Analytic Hierarchy/Network Process Supports a More Responsible and Committed Research and Innovation. Tom’s spirit is quite alive in the work of AHP disciples! Enrique Mu IJAHP Editor-in-Chief