J?rgen Sch?rmann died on January 19, 2001, much too early, at the age of 66 years. He was a grand pioneer in the field of pattern recognition and a tireless source and trigger of sophisticated theoretical ideas and their transformation into high performance recognition products which are spread all over the world. For this reason, the programme committee of the 2002 "International Workshop on Frontiers of Handwriting Recognition" (IWFHR-8) has decided to dedicate this event to this extraordinary senior scientist of pattern recognition. In honour and in memory of this vivid, dynamic and creative man, we want to reflect the essence of his oeuvre, gained during a life-long quest to find a way — as he would put it — "from pixel to meaning".

This paper is focused on the following questions: Who was this man? What were his scientific roots? What was his basic contribution? What are the offsprings of his work? What impetus did he give to the scientific community?