Șerban Strătilă turns eighty this year. During his long activity at the Simion Stoilow Institute of Mathematics and at the University of Bucharest, he has been extremely influential in the creation of what has been called the Romanian school of operator algebras. Among other works, he is the author of two basic monographies in operator algebras: Lectures in von Neumann Algebras and Modular Theory in Operator Algebras. A group of former colleagues and students intend to celebrate this anniversary in a miniconference, to which all friends of Șerban are invited.