MICHAEL A. “MOTIK” IOFFE, 81, of Highland Park, IL, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Motik was born on August 2, 1939, a fourth of five kids to Aron Yankelevich Ioffe and Roza Mnushkina (a Rabbi's daughter). They lived in Bobruisk, Belarus, which in 1897 had 20,000 Jews out of a total population of 28,000. During WWII most of the Jews were killed, but Motik's family left town just in time, barely managing to walk across the bridge before it started burning. They made the 4000+ km journey to Uzbekistan and survived the war there, enduring hunger, poverty, and disease. After returning to Bobruisk, Motik obtained a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics, then moved to Latvia where he worked at first as a school teacher and later as a design engineer. On May 3, 1969, in Riga, Latvia, Motik married Tatyana “Tanya” Ioffe. They had two kids, Robert and Luba. On August 5, 1992, the family immigrated to Cleveland, OH. In 2003, Motik and Tanya moved to the Chicago suburbs to help raise their grandchildren (Luba's kids). Motik was a tremendously energetic, positive, and kind person, who always smiled, loved to tell stories and jokes, and truly cared about people. He loved his wife Tanya very much and took care of her during a prolonged battle with breast cancer, until her passing in 2012. Motik was highly intellectual and innovative. He was an avid reader, liked to research different topics, always thought of innovations, and would never use offensive language. He was particularly interested in the science of climate change, and wrote several books on the subject. Motik was also known for being a strong chess player, which was a prestigious skill in the Soviet Union. Most notably, Motik loved to spend time with his grandchildren and was always interested in anything and everything about them, no matter how big or small. They adored him, loved to tell him about every achievement in their lives, and looked forward to showing off their artistic and musical creations, because they knew that he truly valued & appreciated them. He also valued fitness, followed a daily exercise routine and loved to say "Грамм здоровья дороже тонны знаний" which translates to English as "A gram of health is more precious than a ton of knowledge." Survivors include daughter, Luba (Ilya) Brin, of Buffalo Grove, IL; son Robert (Ellen) Ioffe of Portland, OR; sisters Ida (Semeon) Simanovskiy and Sonya (Leva) Edelstein; 5 grandchildren: Daniel, Avraam, Josephine, Michael, and Celine; nephews, nieces and cousins, and numerous friends and acquaintances. Sunset Memorial Lawn Cemetery. Mitzvah Memorial Funerals.