"I have been fortunate to be a colleague of Lotfi's for over 10 years, first as a Board member and/or officer and for the last 5 years as President of the Association. Over this span of years, SFO has gone through some thin times and some thick ones and had to deal with some almost insolvable problems, all of which fell on him. Throughout this, his ability and willingness to innovate, to improvise, to accept risks and particularly his unbounded optimism has carried the day. Looking back, I don't know how he did it all, but it was obviously his enthusiasm, and particularly his optimism that made it work, and somehow San Francisco Opera came out stronger and better than ever, well tempered by all of the travail."

--William Godward, President of San Francisco Opera Association