We first met Yitz a number of years ago in San Diego when we were looking for a tutor for Avigail and Noam so that they could get a better sense of Israel before we took them on our first family trip. The exact connection is not clear to me, but I think that Debbie learned about him via R. Erv Herman. The two of them had known each other in Los Angeles before they each (independently) moved to San Diego.
Yitz got his PhD from Brandeis. there he met Zalman when they were both students (I think).
Yitz has since retired (a second retirement) to Oregon where we visited him this past summer at "Yitz's Camp for Rabbi's Kids".
There we had a wonderful time walking the beach at sunset,
making breakfast, visiting beautiful coves, exploring carnivorous plants and telling stories.
Among the stories was one about the bell that hangs from the rear-view mirror of Yitz's SUV.