Antonio Riccardi, Head TD of the WBF and the EBL was a colleague working alongside Max in the world of international bridge as well as his very close friend for more than 30 years. He remembers:
Max’s first European championship was Brighton 1987 under Chief TD Harold Franklin and then we directed the junior world championships in Nottingham 1989. Unlike me he did not continue to direct any Junior Championships but from this moment it is enough to look at the list of European and World Championships (Bermuda, Olympiads, Rosenblum) to know that he was there at virtually all of them.
I remember Geneva 1990 where we tasted Yuri Kovalenko's homemade vodka, as well as Max playing the guitar in the Tiffany Hotel (Salsomaggiore 1992). Then there were the troubles in Lille 1998 when the Howell movements on the screens were wrong: after a few rounds the players realized they would have had to play a second time against the same opponents and the TDs were put in charge of keeping the players quiet while waiting for a solution. Even on that occasion Max was able to mix authority and irony so as to calm souls by generating a smile, and by the time the players were put back at the tables, peace had been restored.
At the beginning of 2000 Max and I joined the WBF Laws Committee, which I eventually left while Max continued until the last update of the Laws in 2017, after which he was invited to be a consultant to the Committee, in order to avoid the need for him to attend their meetings.
After Montreal 2002, Kojak (Bill Schoder, Chief TD WBF) and Claude Dadoun (Chief TD EBL) decided to quit and the Federations had to choose the new Chief TD for WBF and EBL. The solution found was facilitated by the friendship that bound us. For the WBF Max was appointed chief and I co-chief while for the EBL I was the chief and Max co-chief. Among tournament directors Max has always been considered the most technically prepared and until now, whenever I had some doubts it was him whom I addressed. His ability to kick off a major pairs competition on time was legendary.
During any Championship, Benson & Hedges cigarettes were part of his life and, in the evening he would also add spaghetti bolognese and good beer(s).