Dear WTC Anchorage Members and Friend of the Center:
It is with great sadness that I share the news that our longtime staff member and friend, Alex Salov, passed away on August 21st. He was 39.
Alex worked with us at the Center for 15 years. He was an important and integral part of everything we did. He was one of those unique people who seemingly can do everything, and that's exactly what he did. He took on every task with energy, enthusiasm, and always strove to accomplish them with a high level of competence and quality. Any of the successes we have enjoyed as an organization during his tenure are covered with his fingerprints. He played a large and significant role at the Center.
About two years ago, Alex left WTC to take on a position as business counselor at the Alaska Small Business Development Center. He quickly established a reputation for hard work and doing everything possible for his clients. As he did at WTC, he pursued his work with passion and care for the businesses he advised. His work there has been all the more important during this COVID crisis as many companies sought the assistance of the SBDC.
Concurrent with his day jobs, during the evenings, he was an adjunct instructor of Japanese language at the University of Alaska Anchorage. For more than a decade, he was a popular teacher at the university and helped hundreds of Alaskan students to learn how to communicate in Japanese, one of the three languages, in addition to English and Russian, that he knew fluently.
Beyond a busy work life, Alex was also an active participant and leader in several of our communities here in Anchorage. His efforts in bringing together these communities was recently acknowledged by an award from Bridge Builders of Anchorage. He loved music and was a board member of the Anchorage Classical Guitar Society.
Alex was recently married to his longtime sweetheart, Akiko. I had the honor to be his best man at their wedding. They are expecting a baby daughter in a few months.
Throughout his life, Alex touched the hearts of many people. During this past week, I have heard from so many people, not just from those here in Anchorage, but from Japan and Russia, as well, as they share their grief and stories about Alex.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, his wife, and his friends during this difficult time. We will greatly miss Alex. We already do.
Friends of Alex have established a memorial fund in his honor. The proceeds from this effort will be used to provide support for his wife, Akiko, and their soon to be born daughter. Already, more than 200 people have contributed. If you are interested in helping with this effort, kindly use this link.
Godspeed Alex Salov.
Sincerely,
Greg Wolf
Executive Director
