Erhard Luft was born September 28, 1933, in Alt-Walddorf, Slovakia. After WWII, he and his parents moved to Germany, and Erhard entered the German education system. After graduating from Gymnasium cum laude, Luft studied mathematics and physics and gained his Ph.D. from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg in 1959. After becoming Prof. Hirtzebruck’s assistant in Bonn, Hirtzebruck sent Luft to the US on Fulbright Scholarship. While in the US, Luft taught and researched at Brandeis University and UC Berkeley; at the latter school; he met his future wife, Maria. In 1963 he accepted a position at UBC, where he became a tenured professor for 35 years. He also joined the American Mathematical Society in 1963. According to the Mathematics Genealogy website, he had four Ph.D. students who became professors; K. G. Choo, Wolfgang Holzmann, Douglas Maclean, and Zingru Zhang. Luft was a prolific author and frequently communicated with other mathematicians at other top universities. He loved sports, and in his later years, he took up cross-country skiing. On February 9, 2017, Luft died in Salt Spring Island, BC.